146 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 



poultry stock ; but there is no attention paid to tlie healtliy 

 condition of the hens selected foi' rearing ]iurposes. Apart 

 from the losses amongst the pheasants Ly the disease, tlie 

 fact that this disease is not uncommon amongst fowls causes, 

 in some farms, considerable losses amougst the poultry itself. 

 There is only one way of getting rid of the disease — that is, 

 stamping out. 



"When once an animal — be it fowl or jiheasaut — shows 

 signs of the disease it ought to be safely removed. ^Vhen 

 in any field where jdieasaids aw reared the disease has made 

 its appearance nmongst tlio young birds, the hens ought to 

 be carefully inspected, and tlie diseased hens and diseased 

 pheasants removed. Those tliat are not affected ought to be 

 pdaced on new ground. A held wdicre the disease has been 

 rife should not Ije used a,gaiii f(ir a year or two, and care 

 should be taken tliat some disinfection be nndertaken — e.tj., 

 quicklime scattered over the tiehl. J>ut i feel sure that, if at 

 tlie outset no diseased hen is admitted for the reariug, the 

 disease will not make its apjiearance amongst the pheasants ; 

 for the hens seem to me to lie the prime cause." 



AVe are also indebteil to Dr. Klein for the first accurate 

 description (_)f a very fatal e))idemic disease which attacks 

 fowds in overcrowded poultry runs, and from tliem is apt to 

 extend to jiheasant cuverts. This disease is termed by Dr. 

 Klein /()»■/ i^iifmti.^-, er the " Orpington disease," inasmuch as 

 " one well-known deider lia.d on his poultry farm, then at 

 Orpington, iii Kent, in about two acres of land, a fatal 

 epidemic (if fmvls, by wliich lie lost, between ]\larch, ISi^.^, 

 and Marcli, ISH'J, (,ver IDH birds. " 



He further states the disease ro lie higlih' infectious, as 

 the evacuations of the diseased fowls are scattered about (ni 

 the ground, ci.intamiiiating' the fund which is picked up by 

 the other.s, and rapidly sjireads luimngst the entire flock. 

 The symptoms ;ire severe purging of yellew evacuations, 

 and the fnwl is feund dead in one or two days. The 

 disease can onlv l)e checked by the immediate removal of the 



