1911] on Grouse Disease. 25 



It has always seemed to me a strange thing for the Prince to have 

 said. To begin with, throughout his long life he had shown l)ut an 

 imperfect sympathy with the lower Invertebrata, and then, again, he 

 was a man not easily appalled : l)ut the saying is perfectly true. It 

 is difficult for the layman to grasp what is going on in and on the 

 soil and on the plants which it supports. Suppose we could by means 

 of a gigantic lens magnify a square yard of a grouse moor one 

 hundred times. The heather plants would be as tall as lofty elms, 

 their flowers as big as cabbages, the grouse would be about six or 

 seven times the size of " Chantecler " at the Porte St. Martin. 



Creeping and wriggling up the stem and over the leaves, and 

 gradually, yet surely, making their way towards the flowers, would be 

 seen hundreds and thousands of silvery-white worms aliout the size 

 of young earth-worms. Lying on the leaves and on the plant gener- 

 ally would be seen thousands of spherical bodies the size of grains of 

 wheat — the cysts of the Coccidium ; and on the ground and on the 

 plants as large as split-peas would be seen the tape-Avorm eggs, patiently 

 awaiting the advent of their second host. It is perhaps a picture 

 which will not appeal to all, but yet it represents what, unseen and 

 unsuspected, is always going on on a grouse moor. 



Two other points remain, the seasonal character of the disease, 

 and whether any means can be suggested to check either Coccidiosis 

 or Strongylosis, or l)oth. 



" Grouse disease " is always said to be at its worst in the spring- 

 months, to decline during the summer, and to recrudesce in a mOder 

 form in the autumn. Coccidiosis undoubtedly is a spring disease ; it 

 attacks the chicks, and if they survive the first six or seven weeks of 

 their Uf e they usually live to grow up. This disease certainly abates 

 during the summer, but it does not recrudesce during the autumn. 

 Strongylosis also occurs most virulently in the spring, when the 

 birds are exhausted by a winter of semi-starvation, and the female 

 especially by the demands made on her by egg-laying ; it is also 

 prevalent in autumn, l)Ut the worst cases have ])y this time presum- 

 ably been killed off, and those not so heavily afflicted are still strug- 

 gUng to survive It is not as a rule reported during June and July, 

 but very few know what happens on the moor during these months. 

 The grouse are almost unseen, their state of health is unknown. 

 This again is a matter for further inquiry, but at present the view 

 that "disease " dies down during the summer has httle but negative 

 evidence to support it. It probably lingers on, gradually lessening 

 in intensity until the near approach of August 12 again attracts the 

 attention of the moor owner and sportsman to his birds. 



With regard to the prevention of the disease, a hopeful view can 

 be taken. Intelligent management has already diminished, and in 

 certain cases almost, if not quite, eliminated the danger of disease, 

 and this without resort to outside aid or scientific advice. There is 

 reason to hope, with a clearly defined objective and a more general 



