220 



anjtliinf^ rational. It will come all rif,^ht in time with 

 patience ; we must expect troubles of this sort with all the 

 cold and damp weather that is so prevalent. Please do not 

 put pepper on the bodies you send ; it is of not the slightest 

 use in preventing decomposition, although I believe it is 

 popularly supposed to be. 



Canaries. (Mr. \V ). These two birds, though not 



belonging to a member of the F. B. C, present a point of 

 so much interest that I mention them. The first I 

 examined seemed to have little or nothing the matter with 

 it as far as the naked eye appearances went, except that the 

 spleen was a trifle enlarged, a condition that is met with 

 under several circumstances. On bacteriological examina- 

 tion hoivever 1 found it to have died of septic fever, and to 

 present, in some respects, an even more typical condition 

 under the microscope than did the other bird, which to the 

 naked eye shewed all the familiar signs of this disease (in 

 addition to having all the microscopical ones). On 

 referring to the owner's letter I found that a fortnight 

 previously he had bought 45 birds from one breeder and 

 that they were all dying with the usual regularity found 

 when septicaemia of this type attacks a stock. 



vSuch a case as this shews us very plainly how futile 

 and Tiiisleading a course it is to attempt to decide by guess- 

 work whether any given bird has died of infectious disease 

 or otherwise. Even where the organs of a dead body look 

 very bad to the naked eye, this may only be due to the 

 action, after death, of the B. proteus vulgaris, and it is 

 therefore quite possible that such a case may not even have 

 been one of disease at all, but of starvation or accident. 



AvADAVAT, cock. (I\Ir. Fillmer). This bird, which was old 

 and ansemic, appeared to have had some broncho- 

 pneumonia in both lungs. The bareness of the skin was 

 part of the general condition of feebleness and not due to 

 any special skin affection. 



Rock Sparrow, hen. (Dr. Hopkinson). There was no brain 

 extravasation. The fits were due to a posterior basal 

 meningitis. With the history of its having been the third 

 or fourth case of the kind recently in your aviary I looked 

 for the meningo-coccus of Weichselbaum but was 

 unsuccessful. 



Gor.D Waxbill, cock- (Mr. Fillmer). As with the Avadavat 

 broncho-pneumonia was the cause of death. The right 

 lung only was affected. 



