- 595 



crease was reported from districts not very far removed from those 

 in which an increase was stated to have occurred, so that although 

 increases have no doubt occurred here and there, there is nothing 

 to suggest any general extension in the number of lapwings. 



Practically only one cause for its decrease is given, and that 

 is the practice of egg-collecting. This is referred to more or less 

 emphatically as an evil by a number of correspondents, many of 

 whom say that egg- collecting is on the increase, and urge that the 

 eggs should be protected under the Wild Birds Protection Act. 



The trapping of these birds by bird-catchers seems to be quite 

 unknown, and the interference with the natural increase in this 

 country, apart from casual shooting, appears to be confined to the 

 destruction of their eggs ". 



Bill for the Protection of Rare Birds. Nature, Vol. 84, 

 p. 81. London, July 21, 1910. 



In the House of Commons a bill " to prohibit the sale or ex- 

 change of the plumage and skins of certain wild birds " was brought 

 in and read for the first time. This bill aims at preventing the 

 absolute extinction of a few rare birds. The bill that passed the 

 House of Lords in 1905 prohibited the importation of the plumage 

 of almost all birds. Mr. Alden includes in the present bill only a 

 few birds that are on the point of extinction. 



A. E. SHYPLEY. The Parasites of Grouse. (Cambridge, 1908 

 p. 12). E S. &., XXI, Aug., 1909. 



Among the ectoparasites of the grouse here recorded are 2 spe- 

 cies of bird lice (Goniodes tetraonis and Nirmus cameratus\ the louse 

 fly (Ornithomyia lagopodis\ 2 species of flea (Ceratophyllus gallinuhe 

 and C. garei), the European castor-bean tick (Ixodes ricinus), and 

 the mite (Aleurobius farina). It is stated that /. ricinus has only 

 been found on grouse in the nymphal and larval stages. 



The endoparasites reported include 3 specie of cestodes (Da- 

 vainea tirogalli, D. cesticiilus, and Hymenolepis microps\ 5 species of 

 nematodes, and 2 species of protozoa. D. urogalli is the commo- 

 nest and by far the largest tapeworm found by the author in grouse. 

 Trichostrongylus pergracilis, the species of roundworm most com- 

 monly met with in grouse, lives in the paired ceca, and is the cause 

 of serious, lesions. The fly Scatopliaga ster cor aria, while not a pa- 



