170 
ON GROUSE DISEASE, ETC. 
true cause of mortality amongst the grouse is quite possible; 
and, under any circumstances, their presence will be likely 
to aggravate a disorder, whether the latter be proven to be 
due to another form of parasitism (as happens in the present 
epidemic) or to disease arising from causes altogether inde¬ 
pendent of entozoal infection. 
Amongst human parasite-bearers the same phenomena 
display themselves. There is a nematode entozoon which 
people often carry about w r ith them without suffering the 
slightest inconvenience; nevertheless a solitary example of 
this same parasite has been known to occasion lunacy. It 
is likewise, not unfrequently, the cause of death. Smaller 
forms of the same tribe of parasites are capable of reducing 
the strength of their human bearers, precisely after the 
fashion of Strongylus pergracilis. I think I have made out 
a strong case against my newly discovered parasites; and I 
have no doubt from this and other collateral evidence that 
avian hosts are just as liable as human bearers to be “eaten 
up of worms.” 
Lest any persons, after perusing the above remarks, should 
feel [hesitation as to the propriety of eating the next speci¬ 
mens of grouse sent to their table, I may add that I have 
alike partaken of the so-called healthy and diseased grouse 
from the Cawdor Moors. Putting aside the truly wretched 
appearance which the emaciated birds displayed on the dish, 
there w T as really little to object to. -The diseased bird marked 
No. 2 had a rather stronger flavour and was decidedly softer, 
without being watery, than the fresh and plump bird marked 
No. 1. This difference, however, was not due to the dis¬ 
eased condition, but from its having been longer dead. One 
of the other diseased birds was comparatively dry and insipid. 
Both were eatable, there being no new or disagreeable flavour 
attached to either. Several of the good birds were as fine to 
look at, and as satisfactory in their culinary qualities as any 
of the many grouse I have eaten this season. 
In the month of December, 1872,1 received a third batch 
of grouse from Mr. Stables, and also at the same time two 
white hares, one of the latter being a remarkably fine animal, 
whilst the other was so reduced in condition that its appear¬ 
ance when alive could only have excited commiseration, not 
to say disgust. The coat was woolly, thin, and scanty; its 
spinous and transverse vertebral processes projecting along 
the whole length of the back, and presenting the well-known 
razor-backed character which is met with in sheep far ad¬ 
vanced with the fluke disease. The condition of this hare 
■vyas even worse than that of the most emaciated bird. 
