Bird Migration in Relation to Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Abstract

A PAPER with the title “Bird Migration and the Introduction of Foot-and-Mouth Disease “appears in The Journal of the Ministry of Agriculture for November 1923 (vol. xxx., No. 8, p. 681). The authors are Sir Stewart Stockman, Chief Veterinary Officer of the Ministry, and Miss Marjory Garnett, the former being responsible mainly for the veterinary information and the latter for the ornithology. Their purpose is to discuss whether migratory birds may possibly be the means of introducing fresh infections of foot-and-mouth disease into Great Britain. The available evidence is admittedly circumstantial, and the authors start with the assumption that it is impossible to prove a positive case, but that it is practicable to inquire whether the question can be disposed of by establishing a negative. Having thus disavowed any intention of engaging in special pleading, they proceed to state the arguments in favour “of the theory that birds may be the responsible agents.