CRAMP IN YOUNG PHEASANTS. 131 



tageoualy had recourse to ; or it may be resorted to when 

 other methods have failed. In the most far-gone cases, 

 instant relief will follow this operation^ since the tfachea 

 may with certainty .be cleared of all obstructions, but unfor- 

 tunately it requires some amount of medical and surgical 

 skill to administer the chloroform and perform the operation. 



The most essential thing in view of putting a check upon 

 the prevalence of the disease is the total destruction of the 

 parasites. If the infected birds be thrown away, say upon 

 the ground, the mature eggs in the gapeworms will not have 

 sustained any injury. Decomposition having set in, the 

 young embryos will sooner or later escape, migrate into the 

 soil or elsewhere, and ultimately find their way into the air- 

 passages of birds in the same manner as their parents did 

 before them. The diseased birds ought to be burnt, and 

 the dead bodies of any chickens, young partridges, or other 

 birds infested with these parasites must be treated in the 

 same manner if we wish to avoid the spread of the disease. 



Since the publication of the last edition of this book, 

 some exceedingly important investigations into the nature of 

 the diseases of young pheasants have been made by Dr. B. 

 Klein. The first of these diseases is that known to keepers 

 under the name of " the cramps." This occasionally causes 

 great mortality amongst young birds, attacking them usually 

 during the second or third week.' It is described by Dr. 

 Klein as commencing with lameness in one leg. The next 

 day the other becomes lame, and the bird sits motionless, and 

 when made to move drags both limbs along the ground. 

 Death generally occurs on the third day. On examination 

 after death, the thigh-bone (the femur), or that of the leg 

 (the tibia), or both, will be found soft, and in advanced cases 

 broken, sometimes with great extravasatio:|i of blood into the 

 surrounding tissues. This fracture generally occurs near the 

 ends of the bone, whether that of the thigh or the leg. 

 Microscopic examination shows that the interior of the bone 

 is highly inflamed, the result of the presence of bacilli, which, 



K 2 



