On Septic Enteritis. 353


For success in breeding Cranes they require a grassy

paddock to themselves. They nest on the ground, collecting

rushes for that purpose. Not more than one pair should occupy

an enclosure, and if there is marshy ground, so much the better,

and shallow water in which thay can wade. They will eat grain,

crissel, potatoes, bread, greaves, fish and meat, and they delight

ill grubbing up the earth in search of roots of plants and worms.

They are, as a rule, long-lived birds, some specimens having

been known to live more than thirty years, in captivity. If

allowed to walk about without being enclosed, the larger kinds

are not always safe, for they will attack people fiercely and

sometimes quite unexpectedly. It is best to pinion Cranes,

unless their enclosure is covered over with netting, for if the

wing-feathers are only clipped, it is difficult to know exactly

when to catch the birds up at the moult, and I once lost a

magnificent pair of Mantchuriaus because of this.


N,B. — Those who want to know all about the Crane

family should, if they do not already possess it, purchase "A

Monograph of the Cranes," a beautiful work with finely coloured

plates of each species by Mr. F. E. Blaauw, whom we are glad to

count as one of the members of the Avicultural Society.



SEPTIC ENTERITIS.

By W. H. St. Quintin, F.Z.S., M.B.O.U.


Some details of an outbreak of this destructive disease,

which I am able to give, may be interesting, and perhaps useful,

to some of my fellow aviculturists.


A sitting of Capercaillie's eggs laid here by a tame bird,

was put under a cross-bred Silky-Game Bantam, and six chicks

were hatched on June the 20th, one egg being unfertile. Up

to July the 20th, the young birds were thriving and growing

fast. On the evening of this day we noticed that one of them

left off feeding before the others had finished, and huddled

up against the little hen, and I remarked that the bird must have

got a chill. The affected chick was worse the next morning,

and died before noon on the 21st. On the 22nd another died.



