LEAD POISONING IN WATERFOWL. 11 
cured it seems reasonable to suppose that this disease will continue 
and will increase as time goes on. It seems probable that cases of 
lead poisoning may be found among upland game birds, as pheasants 
thus affected have been known for many years on extensive shooting 
preserves in England. 1 Diseased birds were usually found on such 
estates a short time after the close of the hunting season, and from 
1 to 3 shot pellets have been taken from the gizzards of sick pheas- 
ants examined. 
A point that may develop greater importance than the direct kill- 
ing of individual birds by lead is the effect that lead may have upon 
the constitution and bodily functions of birds that do not actually 
succumb to its poisonous properties. It is well known that lead acts 
as an abortifacient in females of mammals. No information on its 
action in female birds during the breeding season is at hand. In ex- 
periments performed by L. J. Cole, at the Wisconsin Experiment 
Station, it was found that lead administered to male domestic fowls 
had a powerful effect upon their virility. 2 This was indicated by in- 
fertility of many eggs and a high percentage of deaths in embryos 
and in young chicks soon after hatching. Lead poisoning in the male 
in these cases distinctly affected the vitality of the offspring. If it 
should be found that lead poisoning affects males of wild ducks and 
other waterfowl in a similar manner, this may prove to be a factor 
of importance in the diminishing numbers of these birds. In such 
cases the poison will be of detriment even in those birds that seem 
tolerant of its effects. 
At the present time all that can be done in regard to lead poisoning 
is to call attention to its prevalence and to describe its cause and 
symptoms, that they may be understood by persons finding birds thus 
affected. No suggestions of a practical nature can now be made to 
alleviate this danger to our waterfowl. The writer has been able to 
effect a cure in a few individuals by treating them with magnesic 
sulphate. Wild birds that were brought into the laboratory with lead 
poisoning were confined in small pens, where they were supplied with 
a solution containing 60 grams of magnesic sulphate in 10 quarts of 
water. This was renewed daily. As magnesic sulphate forms an in- 
soluble compound with lead, this solution tended to neutralize the 
lead particles as they were given off into the intestine. The color of 
the feces in birds treated changed at once from bright green to olive 
brown. This treatment was tried on a small number of ducks, and 
about 50 per cent recovered. The method is of interest as an experi- 
ment but has little or no practical value, as the time required for 
treatment was prolonged and the result was somewhat uncertain. 
x Cf. The Field (London), vol. 47, pp. 189, 267, 1876; and vol. 59,, p. 232, 1882. 
2 Wisconsin Exp. Sta., Bull. 250, pp. 44-45, 1915. 
