Tape Worm in Young Mountain Quail
Tape Worm in Young Mountain Quail.
About one in ten of the youug Plumed Quail (Orcortyx pictus plumiferus) in Nevada, Placer, Eldorado and probably other counties in the Sierra Nevadas are infested with tape worms. I have found the worms in the entrails, in the abdominal cavity and frequently under the loose skin of the abdomen, especially between the thighs and body. As I have never found a tape worm in an adult l suppose the young afflicted quails die before they reach maturity. I can usually distinguish the diseased bird by its sickly appearance. I do not know that these tape worms are dangerous to man but have reasons for thinking they are. Since 1885 I have never eaten a young Mountain Quail without skinning it and examing the bird very carefully. How the bird acquires the worm and what the name of the latter is--if it has one--is unknown to me. I have made three ineffectual attempts to get the species identified through alcoholic specimens, but failed to get a report. Have been informed that tape worms are sometimes, though rarely, found in the young Sooty Grouse of the Sierra Nevadas.
LYMAN BELDING
Stockton, Cal.
