60 THE SPEAKING PAEJROTS. 



weeks ; with parrots this is unfortunately not seldom the case. 

 Preventative Pleasures : Strict isolation of all newly bought birds 

 and of those which have the disease ; careful disinfection (17), 

 and the utmost cleanliness. If the disease has broken out, the 

 birds which are still healthy should get a solution of sulphide 

 of iron (20) in their drinking water for about a fortnight. 

 Treatment : A similar solution of sulphide of iron (20), one 

 teaspoonful three or four times daily. Eecovery is scarcely 

 possible. 



Blood-poisoning I have already described on p. 9, when 

 speaking of importation, and the reader is requested first to 

 refer there for its causes. The parrots which are subject to it, 

 chiefly the Grey Parrots, arrive in Europe apparently quite 

 healthy, well nourished, cheerful and with bright eyes ; but, 

 as I said before, at the latest in eight weeks, and usually much 

 sooner, they are, almost without exception, devoted to death, 

 and die most quickly when they receive drinking water, 

 of which for this reason the dealers entirely deprive them. 

 Symptoms : Bristling feathers, especially on the neck ; sitting 

 dull and melancholy ; a change takes place in the bare skin 

 around the eye, from pure white to a dull bluish or yellowish grey ; 

 refusal of food, and often, but not always, vomiting and purging, 

 sometimes only the latter; shortness of breath and staggering, 

 ending in death. Examinations by physicians (Dr. Grun, district 

 physician in Gumbinnen ; Dr. Wolf, private lecturer ; and Dr. 

 Moritz Lowinsohn, both of Berlin) have resulted in discovering 

 appearances which are caused by decomposition of the blood, 

 namely, dark thickish blood, not firmly coagulated, numerous 

 dots of blood which have oozed from the lungs, sac of the 

 heart, and covering of the brain ; yellow fibrous excrescences on 

 the lungs and the liver ; scattered, red, inflammatory spots in 

 the lungs ; frequently there are light yellow wedge-shaped hard 

 excresences on the liver. The latter is often enlarged, decayed, 

 and of a purplish red, or quite pale waxy-yellow colour ; there 

 is also catarrh of the stomach and intestines, and at the time of 

 death the symptom of choking, from flow of blood to the lungs, 

 and the venous circulation of the right heart, of the great veins 

 of the neck, and the veins of the soft membrane of the brain. 

 In the decomposed blood there are bacteria of peculiar shapes 

 like balls, sticks, and chains, and these prove beyond doubt 

 poisoning of the serous fluid of the blood. These organisms of 



