142 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 



No special appai'iitiis is I'eqnired, as any arraiiii'eiiient 

 which -will s('rv(.' to volatilise a, few drops ot the acid will 

 answer ; the vapiiiir of earholic a,cid iiia.\' he used by ]")Utting 

 a hot l)i-ick into the box, and pdiirint;' a few dro])s (if the 

 acid upon it, or it may be volatilised bv jintting thi'ee <ir 

 four di'ops in a. spoon, holding the latter ovei' the tlame 

 of a, lamp, amf jilacing the head of the bn-d in the cloud 

 of i-isiug vapour. ] have had a good deal of exjiei'ience 

 with birds afflicted with '"'gapes," but have never found 

 any treatment e((ual to that of fumigation with carbolic acid 

 vapour. 



The treatment most usually adoyited at rhe jn'esent time 

 is the insufflation of one of th(.^ various gape powders now on 

 the market. The basis of most of these p(.)wders is lime and 

 carbolic acid, but 7nany ke(.'pers make tlieir (jwn. ^Jlie 

 powder is blown into the ciiops every moriilng before the 

 young birds are let out. In the present state of our know- 

 ledge this is certainly the best method of dealing with large 

 numbers of ])heasants. The effect is to make the birds choke 

 up the worms, but unfortunately it does not kill the embryos 

 which are iu the female worm, and tilher pheasants may- 

 swallow them, and the disease is thus carried on from one 

 bird to another. 



'I'lie most effectual check u]iou the disease is the t(jtal 

 destruction of the ])arasites. If the dead bodies of the birds 

 l;e thrown away, instead of being burnt, the mature eggs m 

 the gapeworms will not have sustained any injury. Decom- 

 position liaving set in, the young embryos will sonner or latei' 

 escape, migrate into the soil or elsewhei'e, and ultimately lind 

 their way into the air-passages of birds in the same manner as 

 their parents did before them. 



Any grouud on which pheasants that have suifereil from 

 gapes have been roared should, aftoi- the rearing season Ite 

 heavily luned, and the lime should be allowed to remain on the 

 surface for three or four days. When feasible the land slmuld 

 then be dug or ploughed, and at least one ci'od taken .>lf it 



