70 THE SPEAKING PARROTS. 



taken singly, cannot be of much use, as fresli tumours con- 

 tinually arise. The parrot usually dies unless it can be restored 

 by the strictest avoidance of all unnatural food, such as meat, 

 fat, cake, potato, &;c. Administering a solution of salicylic acid 

 (73) is sometimes of good service. Dreadful boils, filled with 

 blood in the shape of lumps, sometimes form under the wings 

 of newly-imported parrots which have been badly cared for 

 on the voyage. Concerning these, I beg to refer the reader to 

 the treatment for "Blood-poisoning." 



Diseases of the Beak. — All birds are subject to deformi- 

 ties of the beak, which sometimes occur in freedom, but are 

 usually due to the influences of captivity. The parrot's beak is 

 often immoderately long, too much bent, or otherwise mis- 

 shapen. In most cases such an abnormality is treated lightly, 

 although it usually causes the loss of the bird. If the upper 

 beak grows so far down over the under as to be a hin- 

 drance to picking up food, it must be cut back to its 

 natural length, and this is best done by a skilled hand with 

 a sharp knife. It can certainly be done more easily with 

 sharp pincers, but this is more dangerous, as the sensitive, i.e., 

 the fleshy part of the beak, may be thus injured. In any case, 

 care must be taken not to break it off or tear into it, so that 

 splits come in the horn which leads down to the pith, for then 

 it is scarcely possible to heal them ; they break open again and 

 again, cause the bird much pain, and prevent it eating, so that 

 it may probably die. Therefore, before being cut, the beak 

 should be rubbed several times with warm oil. A split in the 

 horn should be cleaned once a day with a brush, and smeared 

 with a warm oily mixture. A beak which has been injured, and 

 sometimes even a beak which has hitherto been quite sound, 

 often begins all at once to increase enormously in size, growing 

 an unnatural length, and the point at the same time splitting 

 up in threads. Cause : Scanty or improper nourishment of 

 the horny substance, and at the same time some particular 

 irritation. Such a beak may be cut back with a pair of scissors, 

 yet the bird is often lost from it, because the horn of the beak 

 then begins indeed to grow fast, at the same time becoming soft, 

 and either breaks off in little pieces, or bends, and is useless 

 for cracking hard grains. Treatment : Natural food, especially 

 give lime and sand ; avoid mashy food and tit bits, and take 

 the bird into the open air until the weather becomes cold. 



