86 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



it were, condemned to make some atonement for 

 their manifold sins against the game-laws. Every 

 thing, in short, appeared to be prosperous, and 

 about two hundred young pheasants were in 

 perfect enjoyment of health and happiness in 

 that favoured spot. A month elapsed before I 

 visited the place again. The old hens indeed 

 were there, but looking shabby and disconsolate, 

 while a few sickly, gawky poults sat near them, 

 with half-closed eyes and ruffled plumage, start- 

 ing every now and then from an apparent state 

 of stupor, and with open beaks and necks ex- 

 tended to the utmost, making a long spasmodic 

 effort to breathe ; while others, among whom the 

 disease had as yet fallen less heavily, or who were 

 perhaps recovering from its effects, were lazily 

 passing between the rails of their coops or loung- 

 ing outside in the sunshine, like the convalescents 

 of a fever hospital. Three -fourths of their num- 

 ber had been swept away during the last fort- 

 night by that dreadful scourge, the gapes, which, 

 like certain diseases that affect the human sub- 

 ject, seemed to have been engendered and fos- 

 tered by excessive population within a limited 

 district. The place had been devoted to the 

 same purpose year after year, and the germs of 

 the disorder, although occasionally dormant for 

 a season, were always ready to break out at 



