DISEASES. 71 



Diseases of the Feet. — When the feet of birds are ne- 

 glected, inflammation may be set up under the crust of dirt, 

 with suppuration, and larger or smaller ulcers, which may lead 

 to inflammation of the joints, the loss of some of the toes, or 

 even of the whole foot. Treatment : If the inflamed foot be at 

 once bathed in warm water, cooled with Goulard water (11), the 

 sore places smeared with diluted glycerine, then thickly covered 

 with the finest starch powder, and this treatment repeated every 

 day, the cure will soon be complete. In obstinate cases lead 

 ointment (10) should be used; or, if the wound be moist, 

 ointment of carbonate of lead (12), but then the foot must be 

 put in a little leather bag, and this firmly tied, because the 

 ointment is poisonous for the bird. Indueations or cal- 

 losities come from abscesses in the joints or from corns. 

 Treatment : In the former the treatment should be as above ; 

 in both cases the wretched cause, namely, the thin, hard, or 

 otherwise unsuitable perch, should be removed. The corn must 

 be softened by rubbing with warm olive oil, then washed with 

 warm water and soap, and carefully pared with a small knife, 

 but one must guard against drawing blood. If a tough hard 

 thread has got wound round the foot (but this rarely happens 

 to parrots), and by cutting into it has caused inflammation 

 and suppuration, after being softened and washed as above, 

 it must be extracted with the point of a knife, and the foot will 

 heal of itself, if smeared with glycerine ointment (25). Cal- 

 losities, ulcers, and lameness are often caused by the pressure or 

 rubbing of the parrot's chain ; in all cases the ring must be 

 taken away at once, and the parrot, if it may not be trusted to 

 sit on the perch unfastened, must be put into a proper cage, 

 when the foot will generally heal of its own accord ; but in 

 severe cases it needs to be treated as above. In many parrots, 

 in consequence of internal diseases, yellow mattery lumps form 

 on the legs, especially between the toes ; these must be treated 

 outwardly like other gatherings, but can usually only be removed 

 by the cure of the disease which has produced them. Still more 

 mischievous is a condition caused either by an abnormal pro- 

 pensity, or by outward irritation, which actuates the bird to 

 gnaw the foot, and even to eat off whole toes. Here, also, no 

 cure can be effected without the removal of the exciting cause. 

 In such cases, tincture of aloes (2) and similar things have been 

 tried without effect ; the bird began to eat the other foot, then 

 a wing, then the second, and, finally, other parts of the body. 



