ATTEMPTS AT INFECTING RINGED TURTLE DOVES WITH VIRULENT Trichomonas gallinae

Twenty Trichomonas -free ringed turtle doves ( Streptopelia risoria ) were inoculated per os with the highly virulent Jones' Barn strain of Trichomonas gallinae . None became infected. Three F1 females housed together were similarly inoculated with this strain and remained Trichomonas -positive for upwards of 182 days. They showed no disease and eventually lost their infections. These three positive females "mated" and laid several six-egg sets in a communal nest. At successive nestings they were given: 1) a fertile domestic pigeon ( Columba livia ) egg, and 2) two fertile ringed dove eggs, all of which hatched. The pigeon squab died of trichomoniasis on day four; the doves survived to maturity. When trichomonads from these doves were placed in Trichomonas -free domestic pigeons the latter all died of T. gallinae trichomoniasis on postinoculation day 8.1 (average).