The only noticeable physical effect of heartworms on 
the birds was that heavily infected individuals appeared to tire more 
quickly in flight. Upon autopsy usually only a few worms would be 
found in the heart though in one case 21 adult heartworms were removed 
from one bird. These worms are threadlike, the female being about an 
inch and the male about 3/4 of an inch in length. 
Cestodes -- Tapeworms of several kinds were present, though not 
common, in the francolin autopsied. Cestodes, collected from black 
francolins in West Pakistan included Raillietina sp., and Choanotaenia 
sp. -\@), 
External parasites 
Mallophaga --Lice were fairly common on wild-trapped birds. A11 
birds were dusted twice before shipment. 
Arachnida -- Ticks (blue bug) were found on the head of a single 
black francolin from Sind, West Pakistan. 
Red mites were occasionally observed. 
Feather mites were encountered only once from birds 
gathered in West Pakiston. 
Air sac mites were rather uncommon, 
Diptera -- lLouse-fly, apparently rare, since only one individual 
was located in examining many thousands of francolins. 
The list of diseases and parasites given here is larger and more 
detailed than in previous reports. This is not because these birds are 
more subject to them than are other game birds, but rather reflects the 
increasing attention being given by Program biologists to this subject. 
In practice, under the Program, all wild-trapped birds are quarantined 
for at least two months in the country of origin before shipment to a 
second quarantine in the United States. During this time, it has proven 
to be possible to eliminate almost all of the diseases and parasites here 
mentioned by proper management supplemented by the use of vaccines, anti- 
biotics and specific drugs. 
Analysis of Competing Interests 
Relation to Agriculture 
Nowhere, either in reviewing the literature or in our contacts with 
men who till the soil, has there been voiced a complaint against black 
francolins, The grain that they eat is almost entirely waste and their 

(a) Identified by Katherine Prestwood from specimens, poorly preserved 
in the field. 
37 
