POISONINO BY LEAD SHOT. 157 



have made post-mortem exa.minatioiis in similar cases. Mr. 

 Calvert wrote : — '' 'Hie followiog' cases of lead-]ioisoiiinu' in 

 ])lieasants may l)e of interest to tlnjse who ha,ve large pheasant, 

 ])reserves. A gamekeeper brought me for inspection a hen 

 pheasant wliieh w;is ]);irtiaHv |iara]yso(l m the leg's, ami low m 

 (•ondition. ()ii killing the same nnd opening the gizzard I 

 found thirti'eu leaden pellets of various sizes; the grinding 

 action of the gizzard had disseminated the lead with the food, 

 and the bird was surely but sni'ely undergoing the slow 

 ]n'oeess of lead-poisoning. This was very evident on applying 

 the usual (diemical tests, as I rea.dily detected lead dissolved 

 in the food, and also traces in the blood taken from the region 

 iif the heart. Two days after this the gamekee]ier brought 

 another live bird. This one had bt'en in a sickly condition 

 for tw(.> (_ir three weeks, and was quite emaciated. 'Y\\v legs 

 were paraU'sed, and the feet drawn in a similar manner to 

 the drop-hand when lead has been the cause of poisoning in 

 the human subject. On opening the gizzard I found f(jur 

 pellets, so that there is little doubt that this bird would soon 

 have died from the effects of lead-poisoning. 



" 1 nnderstand last year some score of ]:)heasauts died 

 in the same preserve, all of them showing symptoms same 

 as above related, l^jth years the ]ioisoning happened after 

 the I'overts had been shot through. No doubt the birds 

 pick up the pellets under the delusion of being either fViod 

 (jr grains of sand ; perhaps the latter. When the birds died 

 last vear the cause of death was attributed to there being 

 too many left for breeding purposes ; rather a strange 

 reason, seeing that the birds had been decimated on the 

 shooting day. 



" Others nuiy have e.xperienced something similar to the 

 al)ove, without being able to give a satisfactory reason for 

 the birds dying ; but where you have ]iaralysed limbs and 

 a gradual falling off in condition, and should this ha])pen 

 some weeks after the covert has been shot through, then you 

 mav suspect that lead-poisoning is a probable cause." 



