INTERNAL PARASITES 247 



male is very much smaller, being only from a third to one-half 

 as thick as the female and scarcely more than '-^ inch in length. 



The male is always attached to the female at the upper 

 third, so that the worms appear as one individual and forked, 

 but in reality are two — a male and a female. Both hold onto 

 the mucous membrane of the trachea, and by means of mem- 

 branous or chitinous teeth wound the mucous membrane and 

 suck blood from their host. 



Reproduction is brought about by the female worm develop- 

 ing eggs which are oval in shape, and which do not pass from 

 the body of the female in which they develop till the worm is 

 expelled from the trachea and the body degenerates. These 

 eggs are then taken up by earth-worms. These infested earth- 

 worms in turn may be eaten by the young chick, and thus the 

 chick becomes infested with the microscopic embryos or 

 minute worms. As soon as the embryos or minute worms 

 enter the digestive tract of the chick they penetrate the wall 

 and locate themselves, by selection by preference, in the tra- 

 chea. If there be many of these worms they form a cluster, 

 and as the worms grow they gradually occlude or obstruct 

 the air-passage, and finally the chick, finding it difficult to 

 get sufficient air into the lungs, gasps for air, throwing its 

 head high into the air by extending its head upward, finally 

 back over the dorsal part of the body, falls backward, and 

 dies from asphyxiation, as one strangled by drawing a cord 

 tight around the neck. The condition produced is called 

 gapes, because the chick gasps or "gaps" for air. 



Chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, pheasants, partridges, 

 peafowls, magpies, black storks, starlings, crows, parrots, 

 swifts, woodpeckers, and martins have all been reported as 

 being from time to time afflicted by this worm or parasite. 



Treatment. — The worms are usually lodged in a mass or 

 lump in the trachea, which may be felt as a "lump" by the 

 thumb and forefinger. 



Gently grasp the bird in the left hand and force its mouth 

 open, using the thumb and forefinger, and insert into the 

 trachea a doubled horse-hair, or take a feather and strip off all 

 barbs except a few on the tip, dip this in turpentine, pass it 

 down the trachea till the tip barbs left on are below the mass. 



