305 



congestion of the organs of digestion. Pneutnonia is an in- 

 fectious disease and lias been very rife this 3'ear among both 

 egg - fed and non-egg-fed birds, as I have repeatedly had 

 occasion to note. Congestion of the liver etc. is a disease 

 whicli conies on very slow!}*, and is then the result of over- 

 taxation of the digestive powers b}' too niuch, or else too rich, 

 food. Leaving out of the question whether the last bird (a Jay) 

 had previously to this year been fed on egg, Mr. Acutt cannot 

 seriously imagine that I have ever promised that abstention 

 from egg meant either immortality to birds, or freedom on 

 their part from any disease whatever. Teetotallers die as well 

 as drinkers : statistics shew however that their average duration 

 of life is longer than that of the others. That is what I claim 

 for non-egg-fed birds. But I hope we can be good friends even 

 if we differ in opinion. — Ed.]. 



]6()itorial IFlotcs, 



BACTERIOLOGY versus RATS AND MICE IN THE 

 AVIARY : — Following up my remarks of last month on this 

 subject, — tubes, containing a suitable nutrient medium, having 

 been inoculated with the micro-organisms of this particular 

 disease, are placed in an incubator for a certain time, at the 

 end of which the colony of new bacteria, developed from the 

 original inoculation, is seen as a thin film on the surface of the 

 medium. 



When desired for use, a little salt and water, (prepared as 

 per directions issued with each package), is shaken up in the 

 tube. This washes the bacteria off the surface of the jelly 

 vvithout injuring them, and holds them in suspension, thus 

 giving us a fluid with which we can inoculate pieces of dry 

 bread. These ore laid in the runs and haunts of the rodent.?, 

 the food which they steal in an ordinary wa}' having been care- 

 fully removed fiom their reach. The virus having been in- 

 gested sets up the disease, which is fatal in from 7 to 14 days, 

 and which when once established spreads from one animal to 

 another, largely on account of their cannibalistic propensities. 



Usually if a rat or mouse dies in its haunt and its body is 

 overlooked by its fellows, a permeating stench is the result: 

 this is said not to happen in this case, for the diseased animals 

 come out into the open to die, and so can be picked up and 

 burnt if desired. 



