x PREFACE 



keepers and their masters, while deeply interested in the objects 

 of the inquiry, are naturally not familiar with pathological 

 science, and cannot be expected to follow the technical details 

 necessary to show how each conclusion is arrived at ; indeed, 

 such technical details might in many cases fatigue the mind 

 and might deprive the book of its interest to the general reader. 

 It has, therefore, been decided to leave out certain of the purely 

 scientific portions of the original Report, and only to refer to 

 such pathological details as are necessary for the proper apprecia- 

 tion of the conclusions to which they have led. It is without 

 apology that the authors have omitted the long lists of speci- 

 mens examined, the lists of subscribers and local correspondents 

 to the Committee, the notes on experiments and the inventories 

 of the contents of crops and gizzards. All these details have 

 been recorded in the original Report for those who wish to refer 

 to them, but they are out of place in the present volume, 



Many chapters in the original Report have been condensed 

 or transposed so as to simplify and shorten the book. Chap, i., 

 on " The Systematic Position of the Grouse," has been incor- 

 porated with Chap. ii. into a chapter entitled " The Classification 

 and Life History of the Grouse." Chap, iii., on the plumage of 

 the Grouse, Chap, iv., on the food of the Grouse, and Chap, v., 

 on the " Physiology and Anatomy of the Grouse," have been 

 shortened. Chap, vi., on " The Weight of Grouse," has 

 been omitted, but such portions of it as are necessary for 

 the proper comprehension of the chapters on Life History and 

 Grouse Disease respectively have been embodied in the chapters 



i><r \\itli those subjects. In Part II., which deals with the 



diseases of Grouse, Chaps, vii. and viii., on " Causes of Mortality," 



been combined into one chapter ; Chap, ix., on " Grouse 



has been shortened by the omission of much of the 



il of past controversy on the subject. The first part of 

 C hap. x., dealing with the threadworms of Grouse, has been 



