148 Diseases of Pheasants. 



reared in the neighbourhood of croAvded poultry farms are 

 liable to contract the disease. 



Coccidiosis. 



Pheasants also suffer, as many other birds do, from internal 

 parasites, any of which may set up a fatal enteritis. The 

 most important of these is a small protozoal micro-organism 

 found in the intestinal tract long known as Coccidium avium 

 (Silvestrini and Rivolta) and also as Coccidium tenellum 

 (Ruilliet and Lucet), but now, owing to the rules of priority 

 in zoological nomenclature, the familiar name of Coccidium 

 given to it by Leuckart in 1879 has been replaced by Eivieria, 

 the name originally given by Schneider in 1875. During 

 the summer of 1910 a large number of young pheasants suffering 

 from enteritis were sent to the Field laboratory for examina- 

 tion, and in by far the larger proportion of them the disease 

 was found to be produced by this micro-organism. In the 

 " Journal of Comparative Anatomy," 1894, Sir John McFadyean 

 described an epizootic among young pheasants which occurred 

 in 1893, and which he attributed to the same micro-organism ; 

 and the symptoms as described by Sir John McFadyean 

 were the same as those seen in the birds sent to the Field 

 in 1910. Dr. H. B. Fantham (Protozoologist to the Grouse 

 Disease Inquity Committee), who worked out the Ufe history 

 of the parasite, describes similar symptoms in grouse that 

 were inoculated with this organism. The symptoms are loss 

 of appetite and weight due to emaciation ; in the early stages 

 of the disease the birds stand about with drooping heads and 

 wings, they become anaemic, combs and wattles pale, 

 and the fe9,thers appear pale and sometimes ragged ; 

 digestive troubles occur, the birds may occasionally eat 

 greedily, but the droppings become pale, softer than 

 usual, j'ellow or greenishyellow to white in colour, and 

 very offensive ; there is almost always wasting of the 

 muscles of the breast ; death is often sudden in its actual 

 occurrence. 



