LEAD POISONING IN WATERFOWL. 
heart seemed to be affected seriously, and the pulse in many cases was 
rapid and very strong. In one instance the heartbeat of a male mal- 
lard under observation in the laboratory was distinctly audible at a 
distance of 10 feet, but this was unusual. It was found that birds thus 
affected were liable to die after any fright or exertion that stimulated 
the heart action strongly. In one instance a mallard in the water 
dived to escape capture, and remained beneath the surface for 30 
seconds. It came up, and attempted to dive again, but suddenly re- 
laxed, and was dead. In other instances birds kept in experiment 
pens died while being handled. Death frequently came during the 
spasms described above. 
Birds with lead poisoning always had good appetites, and ate 
eagerly. Often when they were so weak as to be unable to stand, the 
gullet and upper portion of the stomach were found to be crammed 
with food. These birds drank copiously and at short intervals. 
When disturbed they often regurgitated quantities of greenish fluid, 
a watery discharge that stained the mouth cavity and the tongue. No 
solids came with this. Birds of the groups affected are, in so far as 
the writer's experience is concerned, unable to return solids that have 
been swallowed. 
POST-MORTEM APPEARANCE. 
The flesh of birds dead from lead poisoning is in nearly all cases 
pale. This pallor was well marked in ducks that had been sick for 
some time, and occurred before a wasting of the muscles began. In 
chronic cases in which emaciation was extreme there was a marked 
pallidness of the larger muscle masses, and even of the viscera. The 
blood was slow to coagulate, and frequently remained fluid for 10 
or 12 hours after death. Studies made of blood taken from living 
birds indicated a decrease in the number of red corpuscles, but as the 
apparatus used in making blood counts was imperfect, results from 
these examinations were far from satisfactory. At that time perfect 
counting chambers for the usual grades of hemacytometers were not 
available on the market, so that conclusive studies of the effect of lead 
poisoning on the blood are yet to be made. 
Examination of blood smears has failed as yet to show the presence 
of granules that have been noted in the case of lead poisoning in 
mammals. The heart generally was in systole. In case the bird 
examined had become weakened while in the water, so that actual 
death came through drowning, the ventricles were in diastole as is 
usual in birds that have drowned, but this was an abnormal condi- 
tion. In chronic cases of a week or more in duration the pericardium 
was usually distended with a watery lymph, slightly tinged with 
brownish orange. 
