40 



kept a few days she was returned. About a niotUb 

 afterwards a young bird was found to have " canker of 

 the mouth " and was killed and thrown away. Another 

 wasted away, and had soft and green excreta, dying at 

 the early age of four weeks. This one was sent to nie. 

 It was very emaciated ; the intestines were inflamed 

 and dark in colour. In the lower part of the abdomen 

 there was a large caseous mass adherent to the skin 

 and to the intestines, dipping down between the coils 

 of the latter, and so adherent everywhere that it was 

 impossible to remove it entire. Microscopically this 

 mass was found to be the usual septicaemic deposit and 

 to show dense crowds of cocci, diplococci, and bacilli 

 of the typical form. Another bird from the same loft, 

 which died when only three weeks old of the same 

 disea.se, had three large areas of its liver substance 

 transformed into cheesy material, occupying in the 

 aggregate about half of the entire organ. 



Did space permit, many more exan:ples occurring 

 among pigeons could be brought forward — such as 

 " wing disease," &c. — to demonstrate the identity 

 under the heading of septicaemia of many of the 

 loosely named and suppositiousl}^ different ailments to 

 which these birds are said to be subject. There is 

 however before me one case of so much interest that I 

 cannot omit it. A Wood-pigeon which was shot by a 

 country gentleman was thought by him to be affected 

 by what is known in the case of domestic fowls as 

 scaly-leg, a disease which is produced by dense 

 colonies of minute mites {Sarcoples niutaiis) burrowing 

 under the scales of the foot.-"' He therefore sent it on 

 to me for verification. The bird was extremely thin. 

 The internal organs were unsuitable for microscopic 

 examination as it had been badly shot and post mortem 

 sepsis had followed the shot tracks. But on various 

 parts of the feet, prmcipally thejoi?its, there were hard 



* Theobald. Parasitic Diseases of Poultry, 1896. Page 40. 



