WILD ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY 
becomes adult he is liable without notice to attack and 
kill, or much injure, the persons who have petted and 
reared him. 
ON REARING PHEASANTS AND OTHER BIRDS. 
A few remarks upon the breeding and rearing of the 
young of the various kinds of game birds and of domestic 
fowls may, at this season of year, be acceptable to those of 
our readers who are interested in the subject. 
Although most breeders, especially gamekeepers, know, 
or profess to know, everything required to attain success 
in those matters, yet it is a notorious fact that a vast 
number of them meet with disastrous failures, through 
causes quite unforeseen by, and unknown to, those who 
pretend to be so thoroughly acquainted with the subject, 
that, according to their ideas, to be unsuccessful would be 
an impossibility. 
Of all diseases that prove fatal to the young of the 
gallinaceous birds none is more to be feared and to be 
guarded against than that commonly called the gapes. 
This troublesome disorder is so well known that it does 
not require more than a passing remark. It is caused by 
the existence of a parasitic worm in the trachea or wind- 
pipe of the chick. The attempts of the unfortunate bird to 
expel, by coughing or sneezing, this leech-like bloodsucker 
are most distressing, and the increased size or numbers of 
the worms so obstruct the breathing of the bird that it 
dies partly from its exhausted state and partly from the 
complete obstruction in the breathing or air passages. 
There is scarcely a gamekeeper in the kingdom who has 
not a certain cure for this fell comjDlaint, and many pro- 
fess to know at least half-a-dozen perfect remedies, but, 
like most quacks, when applying any one of them, it 
fails to effect a cure, and the death of the patient is 
attributed to some other cause. 
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