"GROUSE DISEASE "-COCCIDIOSIS 269 



burned. Even after this treatment it is advisable to lime 

 the soil. 



It is useless to remove heavily infected stock to fresh places, 

 for it is far better to destroy such birds and to place healthy 

 stock on fresh, unpolluted grounds. All other suspected birds 

 should be isolated, and careful examination made of their 

 excrement. In the case of epizootics among fowl-chicks, an 

 example recently occurred where over fifty birds died in a very 

 short time of undoubted Coccidiosis. Tracing the history of the 

 remainder it was found that they had come from broods reared 

 by handsome hens obtained from an estate where there had 

 been heavy mortality from Coccidiosis during the previous 

 year. The mothers and foster-mothers were all carefully 

 isolated, and examination made of their faeces from day to day. 

 In a very few days two fine hens were discovered whose dejecta 

 showed daily crops of oocysts of Eimeria (Coccidium) avium; 

 there is little doubt that these two birds had become chronics, 

 and that their excrement had fouled the large grass run, and 

 was the source of the trouble among the young birds. It may 

 be added that washings of the grass and clover in the run 

 also yielded the oocysts of the parasite when examined 

 microscopically. 



The importance of considering the possible infection of 

 foster-mothers in pheasant-rearing is already recognised. 



Fowls and turkeys should never be reared on grounds where 

 much mortality from "white diarrhoea" or "blackhead" has 

 been known to occur. If the original occupants of the land were 

 turkeys, the oocysts of Eimeria avium producing " blackhead " 

 are certain to be present in the soil, and when taken up with 

 grit, food, or drink by fowls, produce the Coccidiosis ^popularly 

 known as " white diarrhoea," especially in young birds. Con- 

 versely, fowls can be the source of infection of turkeys. Pigeons 

 feeding in infected fowl-yards themselves become infected, and 

 whole cotes have been wiped out by Coccidiosis thus acquired. 



Where valuable poultry are kept in wired runs it is well 

 to provide in addition an overhead wire or net covering. Not 



