Practical Game-Preserving. 9 8 



fall " of Cuckoo Spit, a happening more likely on the 

 younger grasses, &c., of a good rearing-field than upon old 

 pasture, the best means of removing it is to ' ' cross and 

 again " brush the ground with thorn and gorse bushes 

 under a chain-harrow well weighted. The coops should, 

 of course, be removed, but may be returned when the pest 

 is no longer present in the larva stage. 



The worst disease which has affected pheasants of late 

 years, and which I am very much afraid is steadily gaining 

 ground, is the fell scourge known generally as enteritis. 

 It is identical with or akin to chicken cholera, which has 

 more or less always existed in dirty and insanitary poultry 

 yards, and when occurring among pheasants is probably 

 the form which that disease takes among game-birds. It 

 is what is termed an epizootic disease, and is caused by 

 a microbe which sets up a state of extreme inflammation 

 throughout the bird affected, rapidly causing death. 

 There is no properly denned cure for it, and all that can 

 be done is purely preventive. In the chapters on feeding 

 and water-supply I have shown to a large extent what the 

 means taken should be to prevent an outbreak of this 

 disease, and if it occurs the fullest steps must be taken to 

 stamp it out effectually. Provided the soil of the preserve 

 upon which enteritis appears is reasonably pure and fresh, 

 no great difficulty should be experienced in doing this. 

 Of course, the first thing is to kill off and burn the bodies 

 of all affected birds. It is no use hesitating upon this 

 point; the trouble must be dealt with in a drastic 

 manner. The contaminated ground must be treated to a 

 thorough watering with a solution of carbolic acid a 10 

 per cent, one usually suffices and then be dressed with 

 a mixture of gas-lime and sulphur. It is, however, 

 necessary to point out that in dealing with the land in this 

 fashion the carrying out of the work must be placed in 



