November, 1918 
FOREST AND S T R E A M 
673 
waste from the great smelters near Salt 
Lake City, but experiments with this acid 
showed that it was practically without ef¬ 
fect on the birds. A number of other ex¬ 
planations were shown to be insufficient 
to account for this great destruction of 
birds. 
The cause of the duck sickness in Utah 
and elsewhere is neither more nor less 
than poisoning by alkali—as the term al¬ 
kali is used in the western country. After 
he had satisfied himself as to the cause of 
the disease, Dr. Wetmore followed up his 
studies by a series of experiments on 
healthy birds with chlorides, calcium and 
t magnesium, and found that it was per¬ 
fectly practicable to cause the duck sick¬ 
ness through the medium of these salts. 
The irrigation of the fertile Salt Lake 
Valley has greatly decreased the amount 
of water in the streams running into the 
Salt Lake, and in ordinary years, when 
the water is all taken out of the streams 
above, there is little or no flow into the 
lake from the rivers. Thus, the marshes 
on the lake front are becoming dry and 
great expanses of marsh and mud flat are 
exposed to the sun, and subject to con¬ 
stant evaporation. Capillary attraction 
draws the salts of the mud to the surface 
and concentrates them there. In certain 
winds the water is blown into the bays and 
is so much raised that it flows across 
these drying flats and as it flows it takes 
into solution the salts on the surface of 
the mud. With the overflowing water are 
quantities of seeds and beetles, bugs and 
spiders, washed out of crevices and holes 
in the dry and cracking soil. The ducks 
follow the water to eat this food and with 
the food take in a great quantity of the 
water saturated with these poisonous salts 
which, in a short time, render them help¬ 
less. 
Birds seriously afflicted with the duck 
sickness suffer from partial paralysis of 
the nerve centers controlling the muscular 
system. After a time, the birds can no 
longer fly. Gradually the paralysis ex¬ 
tends to the legs. Birds unable to sup¬ 
port the body on the legs—to walk—may 
still be able to swim. Very long-legged 
birds, like the avocet and the black-necked 
stilt, soon lose the use of their legs and 
are obliged to sit on the full length of the 
tarsus. After the duck has lost its power 
of flying and walking it soon loses control 
over its head and neck and unless treated 
will die. 
Ducks very badly affected, so much so 
in fact as to be helpless, almost incapable 
of movement, usually recover when given 
plenty of moderately fresh water to drink. 
W<Jien the marshes are full of good water 
there are usually no sick ducks, and if 
there have been sick ducks and the bays 
become filled with fresh water those that 
have been affected recover in a short time. 
It is evident then that there are differ¬ 
ent ways of dealing with this sickness. 
One is by increasing the summer Water 
of the streams. Another by draining the 
affected areas and the third is by collect¬ 
ing the r ick birds and treating them by 
hand. This last, to be sure, is a slow and 
more or less expensive method, yet it is 
quite effective. Dr. Wetmore gives a table 
of seven species, including 1,211 individuals 
treated, of which 284 ducks, or 23 per cent, 
yket 
-\919- 
Tu X 
Season 
dittoes 
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