" GROUSE DISEASE " STRONGYLOSIS 241 



practically no sick birds are found ; but here, again, we must 

 not be misled, the moor is little visited in these months, and any 

 infected birds there may be are now beginning to recover, and 

 have so far shaken off the evil effects of the spring outbreak 

 as to regain the power of flight. It is not until shooting 

 commences in August that piners again begin to come into 

 evidence ; birds that appear to be healthy and strong when on 

 the wing are found when handled to be in poor condition. 



It is by no means a rare thing to find hens weighing 14 and Weight 

 15 ounces still capable of flight. Often such birds are shot 

 and afterwards picked out of the bag as " piners " to be examined disease 

 and condemned as cases of disease. 



The appearances of ill-health are generally abundant. To 

 begin with, the bird is undersized, the bones are found to be 

 unusually small in their measurements and slight in their struc- 

 ture, suggesting that the bird was bred late in the previous year. 

 This gives it a bad beginning, and means that the bird, lacking 

 strength, suffered more than the early bred birds during the 

 previous winter months. If the bird is a hen, it will be evident 

 from the naked skin of the abdomen, from the delayed moult 

 of the feathers of the upper parts, and from the almost feather- 

 less condition of the legs and feet, that a long and exhausting 

 period of incubation has been endured, followed by a period 

 of incessant watchfulness while the young brood required pro- 

 tection. Often enough a hen " piner " in this condition appears 

 to have suffered from no more definite disease than over-sitting, 

 demonstrating that this is in itself a sufficient cause of extreme 

 emaciation. 



Then, again, it may be found that the bird is overloaded with 

 parasites. These, if the case is a true " piner," will.be abundant 

 within and without. The feathers are often alive with Nirmus 

 and Goniodes, the small flat bird-lice, and the head of the bird 

 may be dotted, especially round the eyes and ears, with ticks 

 (Ixodes). The presence of Ornithomyia, the Grouse-fly, depends 

 more upon the weather and season than on the condition of 

 the host. Within, the duodenum will be occupied by a mass of 



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