169 
ON GROUSE DISEASE, ETC. 
It may save a great many words if I tabulate the results 
obtained by my second special investigation of the Cawdor 
game in the following manner: 
Number of 
specimen. 
Condition of 
bird. 
State of 
viscera. 
Tapeworms 
present. 
Strangles present. 
1 
Good. 
Full. 
None. 
Abundant. 
2 
Emaciated. 
Putrid. 
Two. 
Very numerous. 
3 
Good. 
Full. 
None. 
Abundant. 
4 
Good. 
Full. 
None. 
Abundant. 
5 
Good. 
Full. 
One. 
Abundant. 
6 
Good. 
Shrunken. 
Two. 
Very numerous. 
7 
Emaciated. 
Much 
None. 
Very numerous. 
. 
shrunken. 
8 
Thin. 
Shrunken. 
None. 
Very numerous. 
9 
Thin. 
Shrunken. 
None. 
Very numerous. 
10 
Emaciated. 
Distended. 
Many. 
Very numerous. 
11 
Thin. 
Rather full. 
Several. 
Abundant, 
12 
Thin. 
Rather full. 
None. 
Very numerous. 
In regard to this list there is just one possible inaccuracy 
which it is only right to indicate. The birds were evisce¬ 
rated by my cook, and laying out the entrails of the last six 
—all of which were more or less impoverished birds—it was 
rendered doubtful to myself which of these referred to the 
numbers 7 and 10 respectively, two of the six belonging to 
the three thoroughly diseased birds. The doubt rested chiefly 
as regards No. 10. The’bird marked No. 2 in the table was 
extremely emaciated. I had selected this as the most dis¬ 
eased of all. The intestinal canal and caeca of the birds were 
thoroughly and exhaustively examined from end to end in 
every case. The cavity of the proventriculus was also in¬ 
spected in one or two instances, but, as regards entozoa, it 
only yielded negative results. There were no Trichosomes. 
On looking to the additional facts thus established, it will 
be seen at a glance that whilst, on the one hand, the presence 
of tapeworms is only occasional, the presence of strongles is, 
on the other hand, invariable. The only difference, as be¬ 
tween impoverished and healthy grouse in this latter respect, 
appears to be that, in the case of birds out of condition, we 
shall always be likely to encounter a relatively larger number 
of these nematode worms. It is merely the difference be¬ 
tween thousands and tens of thousands; but this disparity, if 
considered in association with the varying strength of consti¬ 
tution of individual avian bearers, will be amply sufficient, 
in my opinion, to account for either impoverishment or re¬ 
tention of health, as the case may be. That in some seasons 
the tapeworms may acquire ascendancy, and thus become a 
