i8 PROPAGATION OF WILD BIRDS 



autumn there were more quails on the premises than there 

 had been for many a year. 



Poultry Dangerous. As is true in the case of the domestic 

 turkey, ground fouled by poultry is Hkely to introduce the 

 characteristic diseases among quails or other wild gallina- 

 ceous birds confined upon it. Hence, care should be taken 

 to keep the birds away from ground where poultry has been 

 kept. On the other hand, young quails or grouse do not 

 seem to contract disease from the foster-mother bantam 

 when they have proper range. Moreover, quails in the wild 

 state frequently feed on ground overrun with poultry, and 

 sometimes feed with poultry, or in barnyards, particularly 

 in winter, and no evidence has come to light of harm from 

 this cause. 



Analogy of Grouse Disease. In the British Isles a disease 

 is known to break out occasionally among the wild grouse, 

 occurring especially after long-continued spells of cold or 

 wet weather, when the birds had been weakened by priva- 

 tion or exposure. Examination of many specimens showed 

 that the intestinal tract was overrun with small, slender 

 worms, very similar to the hookworms which cause the 

 well-known hookworm disease in man. These were found 

 in large numbers in the grouse, attached to the walls of the 

 intestine or the coecum, often piercing it and causing sceptic 

 poisoning. In examining some diseased quails at one time, 

 Dr. Rettger was astonished to find a considerable number 

 of tiny, wirelike worms, of the genus Strongylus, closely 

 resembling the hookworm in man, and answering to the 

 descriptions of those found in the grouse abroad. For a 

 time it looked as though a new cause of quail disease had 

 been discovered. Further investigations, however, showed 

 that other specimens of diseased quails had few or none of 

 these worms. It has been believed that there have been 



