88 



if it be true, and I am informed it is, (and we know 

 that Macaws for instance are always tame on arrival), 

 that the South American birds which come over are 

 either those which represent the hardier survivals of 

 the process of rearing at the hands or rather the 

 mouths of the country people, or else the survivors of 

 a probationary period in the insanitary establishments 

 of the exporters living in civilized centres, then it is 

 easy to see that the main part of the elimination of 

 the weakly has taken place long before we have any 

 every day chance of determining the extent of their 

 susceptibility or immunity. But that they are suscep- 

 tible is certain, because I have dissected several 

 American specimens which had died of Septicaemia. 

 I have also frequently found the same disease in 

 Australian species. 



As an appropriate supplement to Dr. Greene's 

 graphic picture of the leading manifestations of 

 " Parrot Fever," (which he elsewhere mentions under 

 the more philosophical name of Septic Fever), I will 

 here give a short extract from a letter received by my 

 friend Dr. Clarke in 1895 from the late Sir Everett 

 Millais, who devoted considerable attentioji to the 

 investigation of the disease. The specimens he 

 mentions were photo-micrographs, two of which I here 

 reproduce (by permission). ". . . . I venture to send 

 "you three specimens of Ship Fever in Parrots and 

 "one taken from a Canary. The two stained by 

 " Methyl Blue are respectively a blood preparation 

 " (No. i) in which only the nucleus of the red cor- 

 " puscles and the bacillus is seen. In this specimen 

 " you will observe the various characters which the 

 " bacillus assumes, viz., as a simple bacillus, generally 

 " as of a form closely related to a diplococcus (Davaine's 

 " bipolar bacillus. W.G.C.), and finally as a strepto- 

 " coccus. No. 2 is a pure cultivation of the same in 

 " gelatine, it appears as an ovoid bacillus ; in broth it 



