124 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



which almost certainly resulted from collision with a fence. 

 There was no sign of disease. 



(No. 4) A Blackcock, weighing 41 ounces, was found dead 

 on November 1st, partly picked by crows or mice, but in fair 

 condition. It had been feeding on hawthorn berries. This bird 

 had a deep wound in the breast, from an accident which had 

 broken the lower end of the sternum. The damage was un- 

 doubtedly the result of collision with a fence, or something 

 of the kind. It was exactly comparable to that in the Greyhen, 

 No. 2, but more severe, so that the bird died shortly after the 

 accident. No sign of disease was discovered. 



(No. 5.) A Blackcock, weighing 39 ounces, was found dead in 

 good condition on November 4th. There was no food in any part 

 of the gut. This bird had its back broken, and the bone splinters 

 had torn the lungs and the smaller air passages, so that they 

 gradually filled with blood. The hinder part of the bird's 

 body and its legs must have been paralysed, so that it could not 

 search for food, and the drowning of the bird in its own blood 

 took so long to kill it that all the food, eaten before the 

 accident, was digested and the remains passed. The whole 

 body was full of venous blood, showing that twelve or twenty- 

 four hours may have elapsed between the accident and the 

 bird's death, which was due again almost certainly to collision 

 with a fence. Once more there was no sign of disease. 



(No. 6.) A Greyhen, weighing 31 ounces, was found dead 

 on November 4th in good condition ; again the back was broken, 

 but this time lower down at the level of the last rib instead of 

 at the fifth rib as in No. 5. The left lung was compressed and 

 rendered absolutely useless by a large blood-clot which had 

 collected in the thorax owing to internal damage caused by the 

 splintered bone. This bird had evidently lived for some hours 

 after the accident, and had previously been feeding on corn. 

 There was no sign of disease, and every reason to suspect 

 collision with a fence as the cause of the accident. 



Obviously this series of deaths was not due to an epidemic 

 of disease, though it is difficult to understand why so many 



