stubbles and corn-stooks in very large packs in the autumn — in September, October, or November, according to the season and locality. They seem to know that they are out of place, and finding themselves with a wealth of food all round, away from their normal surroundings, are eager to fill themselves as full as possible in a very short space of time, aware, by instinct or experience, that they may be disturbed at any moment. One consequence is, as the examination of birds has shown, that they eat as much husk as grain, instead of picking and choosing as Partridges do, in a quiet and leisurely manner. This difference in the crops of Grouse and Partridges that have been feeding on the same ground is very noticeable. The one is filled to repletion with indigestible and exceedingly irritating husks and a comparatively small amount of grain, while the other (the Partridge's crop) contains grain only.
The result in the Grouse is that the whole alimentary canal, from one end to the other, is soon in an irritable and inflamed condition. The gizzard does what it can to work up the husks and grain into a milky paste, but the microscope shows that this paste is to a large extent composed of siliceous spicules and small spines of an almost glassy hardness. This damages the delicate mucous lining of the intestine. The result of the passage of this irritating food is, first, an extra flow of digestive juices, secondly, an increased activity on the part of the walls of the intestine, both as to movement (peristalsis) and secretion from the stimulation produced by this form of food. Thirdly, comes a point at which mucus is thrown out in large quantities to protect the gut, and this continues and increases until the actual cells themselves are shed, and the protection breaks down. Finally, the intestine becomes inflamed to the extent of ulceration, and this state will continue and increase so long as the cause continues to act.
Such irritation to the intestine of even a healthy Grouse, which already has to deal with worms of at least two kinds, is bound to have an evil effect if continued for any length of time; moreover, in places where the corn is left out owing to bad weather, or for other reasons, there is the additional aggravation that the birds may be filling themselves with wet and sour grain, not one whit the less irritating as regards the husk, which cannot be softened by wet; and no doubt the consequence of this is in some seasons noticeably bad.
Corn in moderation is probably not unwholesome as a food, and were it
