us PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 



It is important to note that fowl enteritis infects other 

 sj'allinaceous birds, and that pheasants o)i overcrowded grounds 

 and those reared iu the neighbourhood of ci-owded pouhry 

 runs are liable to contract the disease. 



A frequent cause of enteritis in young pheasants is the 

 ])reseuce iu the intestinal tract of a sporozodu Tiiicro-organisni, 

 which is known as ijorcidlimi avium, (Silvestrini and Riyolta) 

 and also as I 'occidiinii tcuellum (Ruilliet and fjucet). Duriug 

 the summer of 1010 a large number of young pheasant-; 

 suffering from enteritis were sent to the Firld hilioi'atory for 

 cxanrination, and in by far the larg-er ]ir()poi'tiiiii of these the 

 disease was found to be produced by this micrn-(.)rganism. 

 The symptiims of the disease are luss ni' appetite and 

 emaciation, with constipation followed by diarrha'a, which i~ 

 often brick i-cd, more often whitish, then greenish. Death 

 occurs iu two or three days, tliough in adult birds the disease 

 may last a fortnight or may become clironic, as the old birds 

 are more resistant to the disease. Iu yoniig birds the course 

 iif the malady is very rapid aiul the mortality is very higli, 

 60 to 7() per cent, of the young birds dying, according to 

 Xenmann. The disease is very infectious, the cysts of tlje 

 parasites are ])asscd out with the droiipings of the birds, and 

 the ground being thus infected, the food oi' (jther.s becomes 

 contaminated, and the disease spreads with ahirmiug rapidit\-. 

 There is surall hope of effecting a cure in these cases, as the 

 bowel is generally largely iufested by the parasites before anv 

 of these are discovered. 



Another p(jint to be remembered is that the disease may be 

 found not only iu pheasants, but iu the common fowl, and that 

 the adult lurd umy be able to resist the effects of the parasites ; 

 so that while she herself may not be suffering, she, as raotliei- 

 ()V foster mother, may and often does contain the ^-erm nf 

 the disease, and be able to infect the v<iung pheasants. The 

 greatest mortality seems to l)e between the ages of three weeks 

 and six weeks; after tliat the birds beciune more able to 

 resist tlie disease. The treatment is chielly ])reventiye : the 



