168 
ON GROUSE DISEASE, ETC. 
anteriorly to T -oW / at the head; greatest breadth immedi¬ 
ately above the bursa xro' * 
Length of female mostly •§", sometimes very nearly ; 
breadth above the tail to ¥ 4-/, narrowing at the extreme 
point to y-y 1 —'; longitudinal diameter of the eggs their 
breadth being 0 ". 
These measurements have been carefully made by Mr. 
Charles S. W. Cobbold, with the aid of a Wasserlein micro¬ 
scope and micrometer. I am also indebted to my son for nume¬ 
rous illustrations of the worm, from which the accompanying 
figures have been selected and drawn on a reduced scale. 
During the latter part of the month of November I re¬ 
ceived a second batch of grouse from the Cawdor Moors. 
There were six brace in all, three of the birds being de¬ 
scribed by Mr. Stables as diseased, but whether picked up 
dead, or how otherwise obtained, he was not informed. The 
remaining nine were shot by the keepers, and were “ believed 
to be in good condition.” In accordance with Mr. Stables’ 
instructions, the three birds in question were purposely 
selected from “ the most diseased” which Lord Cawdor’s 
keepers came across. It will therefore be seen that I had, 
thus far, examined eighteen birds from the Cawdor demesnes ; 
and the results afforded, in relation to the probable cause 
of the grouse disease, if not generally accepted as decisive, 
are, at all events, of very considerable interest. 
I may here mention that whilst shooting over the Kirk- 
connell Moor, in Kirkcudbrightshire, this autumn, my host 
—Kichard J. Strong, Esq., then residing at Barcaple House 
—and myself bagged several unusually thin grouse. One of 
these birds, which rose to my gun at the edge of a burn, was 
even more emaciated than some of the worst of those received 
from Mr. Stables; at least, I judge so, in the absence of 
means of actual comparison. I have no doubt that the bird 
was already in a dying state, and that it was perishing from 
the same cause as that which had proved so destructive to 
the birds further north and elsewhere. Partly because I had 
no microscope at hand, and partly because I was so occupied 
with sport and the abounding natural charms of the locality, 
I made no internal examination of the game there obtained. 
As to this moribund bird, however, I may add that it could 
scarcely fly, and was only induced to rise after being nearly 
trampled under foot. By careful inspection I ascertained 
that there were no external evidences of previous gunshot in¬ 
jury. In short, to use a phrase, which has now become 
famous, the poor bird had evidently been reduced, by a slow 
process, to “ a mere ruckle of bones/’ 
