CHAPTEE XVIII. 



PARASITES UPON POULTRY. 



It is very common to speak of " Hen-lice" as if there 

 were but one kind of insect parasite upon our fowls. 

 The fact is that there are at least five species of lice 

 which, with several mites, ticks, and kindred creatures, 

 bring up the number of poultry pests to a dozen or 

 more. From the day the chick leaves the egg, to that 

 on which it is prepared for market, it is subject to the 

 attacks of one or more of these 

 parasites. That they interfere 

 with the comfort, and conse- 

 quently the thrift of the birds, 

 is evident, and to be a successful 

 poultry- raiser one should know 

 thoroughly the habits of these 

 poultry enemies and the methods 

 of getting rid of them. That 

 some are wonderfully prolific is 

 shown by feathers sent us by a 

 friend in New Hampshire, who 

 writes: "They have something 

 on the base, and about every 

 feather in the 'fluff' is like 

 these." (See Fig. 79.) The engraving, of the natu- 

 ral size, gives the appearance of the feathers. A 

 magnifier showed the "something on the base" to be 

 a dense mass of the eggs of a parasite, and it is safe to 

 say that there were several hundreds in each cluster. A 

 portion of the eggs had hatched, and we do not wonder 

 that our friend wrote that the " cockerel is very lousy/' 

 Some of the creatures live only upon the feathers of the 

 (189) 



Fig. 7P EGGS AT BASE OF 

 FEATHER. 



