56 THE SPEAKING PARROTS. 



with snoring and rattling, growing dulness, sitting on the 

 ground with drooping wings and closed eyes (at the same 

 time nearly always catarrh in the bowels and watery, slimy ex- 

 cretion) ; then trembling, shivering, and thirst. The seat of 

 the disease is in the mucous membrane of the mouth, throat, 

 larynx, the air tubes, the bronchial tubes, the intestines ; 

 also in tbe membranes of the nose, the ligatures and cuticle 

 of the eye. From the nostrils flows a yellow, slimy, clammy 

 fluid, which hardens into a dark yellow or brownish crust, 

 the eyelids swell, and adhere together. The illness usually 

 lasts two or three weeks, or, it may be, sixty or seventy 

 days. Preventative Meamres : Examine every freshly received 

 bird, and isolate it for the purpose of noticing its condition. 

 Strictly isolate every sick one, immediately destroy the bodies 

 of those that die, and carefully clean the cages and vessels 

 with a solution of carbolic acid (49). Treatment : As a rule, the 

 diseased bird is lost, and the chief efforts must be directed 

 to prevent any infection, which may be caused by the least 

 touch of the secretions of the parts attacked. Administer a 

 solution of carbolic acid (43) ; and smear or sprinkle, by 

 means of a dusting brush, the diseased parts of the membrane 

 with the same (43). The incrustations must be softened 

 with good grease, and not pulled off forcibly ; a solution of 

 nitrate of silver (28) is used for smearing, and then the parts 

 washed with a solution of common salt (51), tincture of iodine 

 (33), and, for the eyes, a solution of salicylic acid (73), a 

 solution of vitriol of copper (55), and a solution of , tannin (82). 

 Internally, one may give chlorate of kali (36), one teaspoonful 

 three times daily, and smear with the same (37) externally. 



Inflammation of the Bronchial Tubes and Lungs is 

 often produced by fungous parasites. STjmptoms : Hoarseness, 

 snoring, rattling breathing, fever, want of appetite, great thirst, 

 then rapid and great emaciation, and finally diarrhcea. Dura- 

 tion: Six to eight days, often two months. Preventative 

 Measures : Inhalation of a weak tar vapour (84) ; the most 

 'extreme cleanliness, and the isolation of every suspected bird. 

 Treatment : Inhalation of tincture of iodine (35) ; but very few 

 recover. 



Tuberculosis. — Of frequent occurrence not only in the 

 lungs but principally in the liver ; also in the heart, the sac 



