COUNTRY LIFE
Birds as Carriers
For a very long time I have thought it likely that the infection of foot-and-mouth disease was carried by birds. The present outbreak (following at a considerable interval an almost unprecedented calamity on Continental farms) gives strong support to this view. The malady appeared alonk our Eastern seaboard and synchronised very closely with the arrival of hordes of winter migrants. It is arguable that the population of birds in England is glvater in winter than in summer ; but, however this may be, tens of thousands cross the North Sea flying West and South West. Within the last year or two quite a fair number of starlings, ringed on the Continent, have been' found on English farms. Charles Darwin used to ask his friends to send him lumps of mud taken from the feet of-birds. He found—so far as I remember— over thirty seeds in a lump taken from the foot of a French partridge. He was studying the distribution of seeds, but the method might be followed by those who study the dis- tribution of diseases, especially this plague of the stock farm. It is natural that the starling should be thought to be the most likely culprit. It is fond of the farm and comes over in huge flocks, which are distinguishable from our English starlings by the brownness of their plumage. Larks and pigeons might also be to blame.
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