Jan. 20, 1887.] 



FOREST AND STREAM., 



BOS 



liad clisa,ppeared. I was destined to lose my game after 

 all,andImostTmreasonably anathematized the KJii-goorta 

 men for I did not know precisely what, but for tilings in 

 general. I could now plainly hear the scrambling retreat 

 of my quarry, wliich, thanks to the thorny bush, I was 

 glad to observe seemed not very rapid, but the sounds 

 were getting more and more indistinct, indicating that it 

 was making good its escape, when suddenly came 

 a good royal ^ bang of an explosion, and in an m- 

 stant tlie "woods were lighted up with blazing bits 

 of my combustible bombs; then the scrambling of the 

 animal or animals — there seemed to be more than one 

 now — were renewed, and in a different direction. 



Presently bang! bang! went two explosions from the 

 smaller bombs on the other side of the peninsula — ^my 

 warriors had evidently engaged something. I coidd hear 

 their shouts as well as those of theKhi-goorta men. Th«u 

 came another big explosion, and more blazing fragments 

 among the trees, whose upper branches were beautifully 

 festooned with the flaring fibers of the Kerry berry. 

 Where a few moments before all had been still and black 

 now all was noise and light. The numerous tenants of 

 the trees above and the bushes below were wild "with 

 fever and excitement, the shrieking and fluttering of 

 endless birds, tlie chattering and scampering of lemurs, 

 pod-rabbits, bagei"-guys, with all manner of other small 

 quadi'upeds, whde even tlie grea t big blousy insects woke 

 up to add their drone to the general confusion. All the 

 while my men wei'e shouting and yelling, and at inter- 

 vals contributing a big or little exj)lbsion to the universal 

 hubbub. I kept my eyes closely riveted on the woods, 

 ready for the Dig gaine which I felt satisfied must be 

 driven back by the fire and noise from their legitimate 

 line of retreat; and I was not mistaken. In a few min- 

 utes a pair of the fiery eyes came bm'sting out of the vm- 

 dergrowth, and, what I scarcely desired, followed qmckly 

 by another pair. Had there been only a single pair, I 

 should have waited to give him a shoulder shot, but being 

 two, T must ran tho risk of disabling one befox-e tlie sec- 

 ond had time to come on. I threw my rifle to my shoul- 

 der like a flash and fii-ed straight between his eves. I 

 took a good aim; the object was large and not far off, 

 and it was impossible that I coidd have missed it. But 

 no effect seemed to follow my discharge; 

 both animals came right on, charging 

 straight for me. I held back my hand for 

 a second rifle. Keeping my eyes fixed 

 on the other approaching eyes I could 

 see nothing else; but no responsive gun 

 met my anxious grasp. I tui-ned round 

 impatiently to Toptee, gnashing my teeth 

 with rage and mortification. The rascal 

 was gone! I verily believe I could have 

 kiUed him at that moment. And what 

 was worse, my gims were gone too. The 

 baleful eyes were close upon me. I still 

 had the posts and stout gobwich between 

 me and the monsters. The question was 

 whether this barrier could stand the shock. 

 If it gave way — what then? Did I but 

 know the natiu-e of the animal I might 

 fonn some plan of retreat. In those few 

 seconds I must have cursed the faithless 

 Toptee a thousand times. The recreant 

 scoundrel, to leave me at the mercy of 

 an rmknown enemy! Just then a j'ay of 

 hope came to me — tlui-ty feet off I espied 

 one of my g-uns lying in the gi-ass, where 

 the cowardly Toptee had dropped it in 

 Ms flight. If I could only reach this in 

 time, I might, I thought, have a chance 

 for my life, but the brutes were already 

 close upon the netting. However, there 

 was no time for deliberation. I gave the 

 bound of an antelope, and the next instant 

 lay dazed and bmised and aU unconscious 

 on the ground. I had caught my upper 

 lip against one of the guys I had provided 

 for strengthening my trap, and lay a bruised and senseless 

 mass among the grass and leaves. 



In a case of this kind we never keep any record of time. 

 I was probably only a few seconds in this prone position. 

 When I came to myself I was on my feet, I had grasped 

 the derelict rifle and was standing at bay. The first 

 sound that I became conscious of was something like the 

 bleeting of sheep and I could see two pair of eyes now 

 close together foUovtdng the line of the netting' toward 

 the front of the V. I followed them,cautiously resolved not 

 to waste a single shot in such an emergency. My eyes had 

 now become somewhat familiar with the dim light and I 

 idiecerned two objects of about the size of Newfoimdland 

 dogs nosing along the netting and bleating as they went. 

 At last they got fairly wedged in the fork of my ti'ap, and 

 I discovered two ungainly creatures trying to force their 

 noses through the meshes and trembbng all over in abject 

 terror. A more helpless, harmless couple of animals I 

 never beheld in my life. They were built on the clumsy 

 model of dromedaries, of the size of goats and with the 

 innocent face of sheep. The eyes that had ,so alarmed us 

 all were projected from their sockets at the end of a kind 

 of prehensile or retractile an-angement, sarrounded with 

 downy fur in place of eyelashes, and each pi*ovided with 

 a luminous crescent over the top emitting a light similar 

 to that of South American fire-flies. 



The recreant Toptee, who came shambling back the 

 most abject pictm e of humiliation I ever beheld, had no 

 difficulty in leading them home to om* encampment, 

 where we readily domesticated the affectionate creatm*es, 

 making them not the least attractive featm-e of our 

 menage. Though their eyes on ordinary occasions lay 

 bedded in their sockets, they could be projected at the 

 end of the proboscis organ to a distance of at least 15in. 

 It can be easily imderstood why my shots produced no 

 effect. I had fired between the horns and consequently 

 over the head of the animal. 



Thus ended our fii-st grand battiae with our hunters, war- 

 riors and implements of war and chase. If it were not 

 attended with any great bloodshed or glory, beyond a 

 swelled lip and an inflamed nose on my part, it had at 

 least served to test the efliciency of theKhi-goorta and the 

 KeiTy-berry Goorta, bomb, a piece of knowledge destined 

 to be of considerable service to us in our later adventures. 



AdArem all ciymmmicattov^ to the Forest and Stream Piib. Co. 



AVIAN TUBERCULOSIS 



IN THE EUFFED GROUSE. 



THIS is in medicine the age of germs. In the pathology 

 of almost every disease we are searching for some 

 genn or micro-organism as a causative agent. These in- 

 vestigations havebeen productive. Dr. Koch, the great 

 German pathologist, has given us the tiibercle bacillus, 

 and more recently tho cholera germ. Dr. Obermeyer has 

 contributed the spirillum of relapsing fever, and Ve are 

 still looking for the gonococcus, syphilococcus, typhoid 

 and typhus germs. 



Of all these minute organisms the bacillus of tubercu- 

 losis is by far the most common, the most important, and 

 the one most readily clemonsti'ated. A tubercle consists 

 of a non-vascular grayish nodule, about the size of a pin's 

 head. These nodules, wherever^found, act as irritants, 

 causing a low or high grade of inliammation, and as they 

 occm- in immense numbers, the disease called tuberculosis 

 is almost invariably fatal. The starting point of these 

 nodules is the small oval or rod-shaped microscopic 

 organism called a bacillus. This bacillus is taken into the 

 body in great numbers by the food or drink (diseased 

 cow's milk may be the medium), and when by the process 

 of absorj)tion they reach the blood, they are, of com-se, 

 diffused to all parts of the animal system. If they reach 

 the lungs and remain there, the animal develops pul- 

 monary tuberctdosis, which leads soon to this foi-m of 

 consumption. 



Thus xt is seen that tuberculosis is an acute mf ectious 

 disease. 



In the October number of the Journal of Comparative 

 Medicine and Srirgc'i'y, Dr. J. Bland Sutton describes at 

 length his researches into the causation and pathology of 

 avian tubercixlosis, from material and oases obtained fl'om 

 the Zoological Gardens, in London, England, and from 



The Audubon Magazine, which will be begrm next 

 month, wiU devote much attentioxx to bird life and natural 

 history. Specimen copies will be sent on receipt of six 



nts; the subscription price is fifty cents per aimum. 



KERRY CISO, 



one or two epidemics also in England. He proves that 

 the disease is exceedingly common. He analyzes the 

 causes of death in one thoixsand birds of various species. 



He flnds that the disease, developed jper se, occurs oixly 

 in galluiaceous birds — barnyard fowls, pigeons, grouse 

 and"pax-tridges in conflixement — also in fruit and vegeta- 

 ble feeders. Occasionally bu'ds of prey were infected. 

 Fish-eating birds seem to be exempt, also water fowl in 

 general. 



In the case of the birds of pi'ey, the presumption is vexy 

 strong that the disease was contracted by devoux-ixig the 

 diseased flesh of grain-eating birds. Dr. Sixtton cites an 

 interesting case where the infection was directly trace- 

 able to the food. It was the case of one of the large 

 snakes at the '"Zoo," which was constantly fed on fowls, 

 pigeons and ducks. The tuberculous nodules and bacilU 

 were idexxtical with those found in man. The liver was 

 the seat of disease in this case. Dr. Sutton is also con- 

 vinced that the warty excrescences seen on the feet and 

 toes of cage birds, especially parrots, birds that spend 

 much of the time in the lx)ttom of the cage, generally 

 kno^\Ti as bird ^out, is nothing more than a local mani- 

 festation of thxs disease. Inoculation of animals, both 

 birds and mammals, with tixberculoixs material, sputtxm, 

 etc., from man, has been repeatedly accomplished, the 

 symptoms and pathology not differing from those in 

 man. More recently the inoculation of mammals from 

 birds has been tried with success; rabbits and Guinea pigs 

 being particulardy susceptible. 



The conclusions arrived at by Sutton are that txiber- 

 culosis in bhds is not developed' by ixxfection from man, 

 as held by Nocard, but is due to the formation and multi- 

 plication of this tubercle baciUus in congenial soil, 

 namely the mixture which is so often found in bax-n- 

 yards, aviaries, cages, etc., decomposixxg excrementitious 

 matter, grain, feathers, soil and so on, with a certain 

 amount of moistxu-e. The immature or latent bacilli are 

 swallowed, and in the heat of the small intestine they 

 find the temperatm-e (104P F.) suited to then- development. 

 Absox-ption into the blood follows, and the organs xxear- 

 est to the alixnentary canal suffer first. The gei-ms are 

 followed tlu-ough the coats of the blood vessels by the 

 white corpxiscles from the blood, the white blood cells 

 envelop the bacdli, and in this way natixre txies to stop 

 their ravages. So the tubercle is formed. As the tuber- 

 cle grows older, the center becomes cheesy and white, 

 iixdicating death, the outside of the nodxile continuing in 

 an active state, the white cells trying to swallow or kill 

 off the baciUi. Meanwhile the organ in which the fight 



is progressiiig suffers, and we have some of the various 

 tuberculous troubles of the liver, lungs, kidneys, peri' 

 toneum, etc. 



On Dec, S3 last I received from Mr. J. B. Battelle, of 

 Toledo, Ohio, the body of a fluixe specimen of a male ruffed 

 grouse (Bonasa umhellK^) with the foUowixxg history. 

 The bird caixie to him from Wisconsin, and had been in 

 confinement six weeks, and up to within 36 hours of its 

 death it seemed in fan- health. Mr, B. had three of these 

 birds confined in one inclosure, 4ft, wide by 28ft. loxig, 

 the coop havixxg been occupied two months previously by 

 some other birds. He stated that it had been disinfected 

 and the ground raked over, that the birds were fed from 

 a wooden trough, and watered from a tin vessel, and that 

 the place was kept as clean as circumstances would per- 

 mit. The two remaining birds, hens, were at this time 

 apparently perfectly well. Post mortem examination 

 showed the following condition: Bird well nourished, 

 weighing 18oz. The organs showing acute disease were 

 the lower part of the smaU iatestines near the caaca, the 

 bver, and probably the spleen, thoixgh the post mortem 

 changes were so advanced that it was difficult to deter- 

 mine this. The gut was tied together in tlxis region by 

 pei'itoneal adhesions, which, however, were readily 

 stx-ipped apart. From the outside could be seen nxrmbers 

 of yellowish points or nodules, which were hard and 

 resistant to pressui-e. Upon slitting the gut, the nodules 

 seemed to be located in the submucous coat. A very few 

 scattered nodules wex-e foimd beneath the peritoneal 

 covering of the liver. Under the microscope these bodies 



g roved to be tubercles with the characteristic cheesy 

 I'oken down center, surrounded by the giant, or aggre- 

 gated, white cells, and in and around these, the colonies 

 of bacilU. The diagnois of tuberculoas peritonitis was 

 made. 



I wrote to Mr. BatteUe, stating my diagnosis and belief 

 that the two hen birds would shortly succumb, and re- 

 quested that they be sent to me as soon as possiole after 

 death. On Dec. 30 I received the second bird, a hen. 

 She had likewise died after a twenty -four hours' sickness. 

 Examination showed the same appearances in general, 

 but the tuberculous matter had not developed into true 

 tubei-cles, but lay attached to the mucoxis and submucous 

 coats in the same x-egion, exactly resembling what Sutton 

 describes as occurring in vex-y acute cases, ''m-egular, 

 ci-aggy-lookuxg masses of a yellowish white color." This 

 bu-d was not in as good condition as the first. The gut 

 was matted, and adhesions were present. The third bird 

 died on Jan. 7 with the same symptoms, but unfortunately 

 was not sent to me. These three specimens represented a 

 wide geographical distribution. The cock came from 

 Wisconsin; the hens, one from Michigan and one from 

 New York. 



The conclusions from these facts seem to be that some 

 birds are more susceptible to the tubercle poison than 

 others. These grouse had every attention given them but 

 imdoubtedly became infected from the soil of their ca^es. 

 The raking up of the ground may have contributed to 

 this. Quail appear to be less susceptible, for they hve 

 and thrive in captivity when the hygienic surroundings 

 are decidedly bad. At the same time I think that fur- 

 ther investigation wiU show that the mortabty among 

 captive quail is dite principally to this diseace. The 

 question whether, as Nocard holds, birds of the barn- 

 yard become infected from the sputum of tuberculous 

 patients, or man from eating the flesh of diseased bu-ds, is 

 stfll sub judiee. It has been proved that tuberculosis has 

 occurred fi-om drinking the milk of tuberculous ccwa. 

 It may be suggested that the floors of aviaries, whether 

 of soil or sand, and the cage itself, as far as practicable, 

 be disinfected semi-weekly with Piatt's chlorides, cop- 



Seras, or some other disinfectant. This can readily be 

 one with a small sprinkler. The subject is of gi-eat in- 

 terest and importance. Morton Qrinnell, M.D. 

 - & East Twenty-Sixth Sxheet, New York. 



MIGRATING LARKS. 



AS we have now entered upon the close season for fin 

 and feather, with guns and rods carefully laid away 

 in anticipation of a future outing, when the proper time 

 shall have arrived, it is well to review the past year or 

 years, and recall circumstances of either pleasure or 

 ixardship we may hav6 passed through, or any facts we 

 may have learned in science or natm-al Instory. 



When invited last fall to join a pax-ty bound for Mary- 

 land's eastern shore, for geese and ducks, I said yes, you 

 may count me in, for if I do not shoot a gun, nor wet a 

 line, I am sure of having a pleasant time, and shall re- 

 ceive a positive benefit from the trip. Thus it has ever 

 been, and the rougher the exjiexience — if safely passed — 

 the greater the satisfaction in rehearsing it to the stayers 

 at home. 



While decoying in the early part of November on 

 an island in the bx'oad bay, north of the Isle of Wight, 

 great numbers of birds were seen in the near distance, 

 constantly rising and settling after a short flight. 



The first impression was, that they were quail — the 

 partx-idge of the South. But a more careful observation 

 proved them to be meadow larks {Sturnella magna), 

 whose flight somewhat resembles that of the quail. 



The number was so great that the question was, "Where 

 did all these larks come from ?" The size of tlie island 

 and the nature of the soil negatived the idea that they 

 were raised there. 



Wliile in the same blind the next day the question 

 settled itself, and in this way: A single lark came near 

 and alighted on a dry bush' and in plain sight. After 

 looking in every dhection he commenced a shriU call, 

 quite unlike the usual note of the lark, which was i-e- 



Seatefi vigorously; and as there were neither geese nor 

 ucks awmg, my attention was given to the lark. 

 Soon a companion bird came and dropped into the 

 weeds near the caller, then another and another, then by 

 scores and hxmdreds, till apparently every lark on the 

 island had responded in person and settled among the 

 reeds and bushes, but except the caller not a bird was to 

 be seen and not a note heard. This continued a short 

 time when the leader, after two or three sharp ringing 

 notes, spread his wings for flight, and was immediately 

 followed by the entire flock in a southei'ly direction and 

 across the broad waters of the bay. From that hom- not 

 a lark was seen or heard on the island. Doubtless these 

 birds were reared further north, and had made this island 

 a resting place in their long flight to a winter's home in a 

 warmer clime. The name of the island was not learned, 

 but doubtless many of the readei*s of the Forest and 



