CHAPTER XXXIV 



Parasitic Affections of the Respiratory Tract 



Syngamosis, Verminous Bronchitis, or Gapes 



The Pheasant-rearer and the poultry-man are both well 

 acquainted with that trouble popularly known under the title 

 Gapes, a name derived from the most striking symptoms the 

 birds display, namely, a gaping or gasping for breath. During 

 certain seasons, enormous losses are produced through this 

 trouble, and it certainly constitutes, in particular localities 

 at any rate, one of the worst scourges that the game-rearer 

 has to contend with. Birds are not the only sufferers from 

 these worms, there being corresponding parasites in calves, 

 sheep, and pigs, but particularly the two first named, in 

 which the trouble arising from the presence of the worms 

 in the air tubes is known as "Husk "or " Hoose." To 

 the game-rearer and to the poultry-man this fact is of some 

 significance, chiefly because considerable doubt has been 

 entertained as to whether there is not some relationship 

 existing between the different species causing the infestation. 

 Some poultry and game rearers believe that land which has 

 been grazed by cattle — mainly by calves and lambs — favours 

 the appearance of this trouble, a theory that is worthy of 

 consideration. In both instances the parasites have a pre- 

 dilection for attacking the young, though autumn appears 

 to be the season when " Husk " is most prevalent in farm- 

 stock. The flockmaster dreads this trouble just as much as 



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