BOTULISM AND DUCKS

Abstract

Kalmbach,²ornithologist of the Biological Survey of the United States Department of Agriculture, assigned to the problem of the so-called western duck sickness, recently made observations that open a wide field for further study of botulism in birds, particularly ducks. Western duck sickness has affected migratory water fowl in marsh lands of western states. Shore birds, geese and ducks, especially of the pintail, mallard and teal species, are subject to the malady. Foci of the disease have been noted in the Bear River marshes and neighborhood in Utah; the Tulare Lake and Buena Vista Lake districts in California; Lake Malheur in Oregon, and other areas in Idaho, Texas, Dakota and Canada. Though a relatively small percentage of birds in an area are affected, it has been estimated that, up to 1927, fifteen million ducks had died. The disease ordinarily occurs during the hot and dry weather of the summer