62 



received a large, well nourished, and apparenth^ very 

 healthy specimen. Despite this appearance I found 

 it to present on examination the typical macro- and 

 micro-scopical signs of acute septicaemia ; in fact it 

 was in exactly the same condition as a cagebird 

 with malignant septic fever. Three other rats which 

 were subsequent!}^ sent proved to be healtln^ but in 

 view of the cannibal propensities of these animals, 

 especially in connection with sick members of their 

 community * the presence of even a few diseased ones 

 about a farm would constitute a very serious danger 

 to an\' birds fed upon them, and more especially to 

 5''oungsters reared from the nest in captivity or old 

 ones newly caught. f Previousl}^ to finding septicaemia 

 in this rat I was not aware that these animals were 

 susceptible, but it has long been known that mice are 

 very liable to the disease. I would therefore warn my 

 readers against adopting the advice so often given 

 them as to the expediency of using these latter 

 animals as a part of the dietar}^ of their Jays and 

 Drongoes and other birds. Even if a wild bird were 

 able to withstand the effects of feeding on an infected 

 specimen it is manifest that one which is already 

 placed b}' captivity in a bad position as regards 

 disease resistance would soon succumb to the un- 

 toward influence, and so untimely go the way of all 

 flesh, to have its death certificate couched in the 

 terms of " tuberculosis " (in which no tubercle 

 bacillus can be found), or else " not enough egg- 

 food and insufficient warmth," — based on senseless 



• Buckland. Curiosities of Natural History. 1903. Page 75. 



+ It is popularly supposed tliat fur is necessary to raptorial birds as 

 an aid to their dig-estion, but like many other common beliefs this may be 

 dismissed as erroneous. It is itself non-digestible, it contains no digestive 

 ferments, and is not even of any mechanical use in the early stages of the 

 process. After separation from the soft parts in the stomach it is merely 

 rejected in the same way as a boy rejects the portions forming the core of 

 au apple after he lias separated them from the pulp with his teeth, tongue, 

 aud buccal muscles. 



