269 



from day to day amongst the more intelligent ranks 

 of bird keepers. 



FILARIASIS IN A BLACKBIRD :— Readers will 

 recall the mention in these pages from time to time of 

 the occurrence of exceedingly minute filarise in the 

 blood and particularly in the lungs of foreign birds 

 hailing from, hot climates, both African and Australian. 

 Dr. Hopkinson once told me also that these animalcules 

 are exceedingly common in the West African birds, 

 and the suggestion has been hazarded that after a pro- 

 longed residence in this country they disappeared. 



It seems however that our own birds may be 

 affected in this way, though to be sure the particular 

 specimens in which they were noted belong to 

 species of which many individuals are known to 

 migrate as far south as North Africa. The Professor 

 of Pathology at Queen's College, Belfast, (Royal 

 University of Ireland), Dr. Symmers, in July last 

 year saw a Blackbird suddenly drop dead from a tree 

 in his garden. On examination he found that to the 

 naked eye all the internal organs were apparently 

 healthy, and beyond this that the heart blood con- 

 tained no bacilli. But it did contain great quantities 

 of these worm-like parasites, and as his examination 

 was conducted soon after the bird's death, he was able 

 to observe their movements, an interesting account of 

 which will be found in the British Medical Journal for 

 Oct. 20, 1906. As to their structure they appear to 

 have resembled those which I have noted in newly 

 imported Rosellas and other birds. 



Commenting on Dr. vSymmers' paper. Dr. A. C. 

 Coles, a Vv'ell known authority on such matters, writes 

 in the same Journal on Nov. 3, 1906, that he has fre- 



