146 OSTRICH-FARMING IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



month or two afterwards the worms appeared in my 

 friend's birds, and from them it rapidly spread to other 

 farms, and became general in the district. 



The first outbreak of this disease in each new neigh- 

 bourhood was attended with very fatal results, carrying 

 off large numbers of birds ; but now its yirulence has 

 much abated, and, with our acquired knowledge of what 

 are the best vermifuges for this particular tape-worm, 

 the disease is no lono^er much dreaded. On its first 

 outbreak we knew a man who made a determined 

 attempt to try and stamp it out by every month dosing 

 the whole of his birds : his idea being that if no germs 

 were deposited on the veldt for some considerable time, 

 and with his farms fenced in to prevent a renewal by a 

 fresh communication, he would be rid of it ; but after 

 some time it was discovered that the guinea-fowls, pows, 

 corhans, fowls, and many of the small birds throughout 

 the country had contracted the disease, and were 

 spreading it in all directions, which of course made it 

 impossible to stamp it out. It proved very fatal to 

 the guinea- fowd ; where there were large flocks of 

 perhaps a hundred strong, they are now" reduced to a 

 few only. 



The disease generally makes its appearance in chicks 

 about four months old, and continues in them, more 

 or less, till about two years old, when the birds throw it 



