292 THE GROUSE IN HEALTH AND IN DISEASE 



Grouse one exception) ; (2) that a moderate number of Strongyli are present (one 

 hundred to one thousand), Bacillus coli may or may not be present in the organs 

 (twenty-one Grouse); and (3) that when great numbers (over one thousand) are 

 present, Bacillus coli has invariably been found in the liver or other organs 

 (twenty Grouse.) 



It has not been found possible to estimate the numbers of living Bacillus 

 coli present from the number of colonies which grew on the tubes. Some- 

 times, of course, we were able to make a rough guess. In some control birds, 

 both diseased and healthy, which were examined some considerable time after 

 death, the innumerable number of colonies on the tubes showed that Bacillus coli 

 was at that time swarming in the tissues. But with living birds, even when very 

 large numbers of Strongyli were present, the colonies of Bacillus coli were few 

 in number, one or two to ten or a dozen, and rarely more than thirty. 



It is not claimed, of course, that the number of living Bacillus coli, in the 



liver for example, is exactly proportional to the number of Strongyli. 



Strongyli With as few Strongyli as two hundred and thirty-five, Bacillus coli 



not exactly has been found (one colony in one tube), and again with as many as 



n i ne hundred and forty-five, Bacillus coli has been absent. Doubtless 

 other conditions which affect the health of the bird also influence the 

 permeability of the intestinal wall to the contained bacteria. 



We have already shown that Strongyli are almost constantly present 



in the cseca of wild Grouse believed to be perfectly normal, and certainly of fair 



weight and in good general condition. In a few so-called healthy 



bersof birds they may be present literally in thousands. We were informed 



present in by Dr Wilson that Strongyli are more numerous in diseased than in 



and dis- healthy birds ; and we have ourselves examined a number of diseased 



'' birds brought in dead, and useless for cultural purposes, and collected 



the worms from them. 



Table IV. shows that the number of Strongyli present in diseased birds, 



though varying considerably, is greatly in excess of that found in the great 



majority of normal birds. In a small minority of the presumably 



Strongyli healthy birds the numbers were as large as those found in many 



diseased of the diseased birds. It is, of course, impossible to be certain that 



healthy these exceptional birds were not really suffering from the early stages 



of "Grouse Disease." The two (Nos. 60 and 61) with the largest 



numbers came from a moor on which " Grouse Disease " was prevalent at the time. 



