134 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



Cases have been occasionally observed of dermoid cysts 

 and fibroid tumours in the neck ; these may sometimes be the 

 result of shot wounds. 



Various accidents may happen to the foot and metatarsus 

 of the Grouse, ranging from complete loss of the foot at the 

 tibio-metatarsal joint to the loss of toes at the meta- 

 tarsophalangeal joints, or at the various inter-phalangeal 

 joints. 



Steel vermin traps will perhaps account for some of these 

 cases, but in one case the appearance of the stumps of toes 

 on both feet, to a different extent on each foot, suggests frost- 

 bite as the cause ; or at any rate some form of gangrene rather 

 than steel traps. A possible explanation is the strangulation 

 of toes, sometimes even of feet, which sometimes occurs in 

 infancy by the tightening of strands of sheep's wool accident- 

 ally wound round them. This is a common accident with 

 Lapwings. 1 



An instance of the death of Grouse in a vermin trap may be 

 recorded. Two healthy cocks fighting in the spring accidentally 

 came together into a " Samson " trap, and were simultaneously 

 killed. 



Damage to the bill may sometimes be a cause of death. 

 A cock Grouse of 18 J ounces was found dead on July 13th, 

 1908. There was a very little Calluna heather and Blaeberry 

 leaf and stem in the crop. The bird had probably found 

 difficulty in obtaining sufficient food for the lower bill was 

 split and curved, forming an unhandy instrument for plucking 

 heather. Death by starvation, however, had been hastened 

 by Helminthiasis. Davainea was abundant ; Hymenolepis filled 

 the duodenum, while Trichostrongylus was present in great 

 numbers. This bird would very probably have recovered 

 during the summer but for the additional handicap of its 

 damaged bill. It had survived the two months of highest 

 mortality, April and May. 



1 A similar case, occurring in a hen partridge, shot when flushed with the covey, is 

 described in the " Field," September 12th, 1908. 



