3 



course rapid, and according to all observers it 

 attacked healthy and plump birds. The present 

 Inquiry has not yet succeeded in coming across 

 any sick or dead birds which are plump or in 

 good condition. All the grouse, and they 

 amount in number to many hundreds, which 

 have been investigated, have been weighed, 

 and in every case where there has been any 

 disease there has invariably been wasting ; 

 the sick birds are always thin, have lost flesh, 

 and are in a poor condition. One final feature 

 of Klein's grouse disease is its seasonal inci- 

 dence ; usually it is said to occur with greatest 

 virulence in the spring, to die down during the 

 summer, and to recur in a less virulent form in 

 the autumn. To this seasonal variation I shall 

 return. 



Klein's grouse disease is still a matter of 

 inquiry. During the last five years, whilst 

 the Commission has been prosecuting its 

 inquiries, this " disease " has frequently been 

 reported, but on investigation the characteris- 

 tics enumerated above have not been present ; 

 still, the sportsman and the gamekeeper, who 

 do not weigh their grouse and seldom their 

 evidence, and who are but imperfectly acquaint- 

 ed with post mortem changes, firmly believe 

 in the existence of this " disease," and it may 

 be that it really exists and that it is the mis- 

 fortune of the Inquiry that in their researches 

 the investigators have not come across it. 



If we now turn from what must seem rather 

 negative criticism to the more positive results 

 attained by the investigation of the last four 

 years, we may begin by pointing out some 

 of the difficulties which confronted the Inquiry. 



In considering exceptions it is so immensely 

 important to know the rule. In studying 



