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many months, and which I was now determined not to repeat;

and with this resolve biasing my eye, and with the assistance of

the shadows cast by artificial light, and aided still further by my

anxiety to dispose of the case as speedily as possible, I fixed the

leg this time with the toes turned in too much—and in this

slightly awkward but not unsightly position it remained to the

end. As a consequence the bird, when at rest, would often place

one foot on the top of the other, as if folding her hands as it were ;

and this used to give her a singularly quaint and pathetic aspect.

But I doubt if anyone ever noticed that there was anything wrong,

or suspected for a moment that a leg had ever been broken.


When a bird is being operated upon for any length of

time, a taste of water (not too cold) given now and again, and

even a taste of plain, unsweetened, watery sop, will greatly

refresh and give it heart; and a little fluid magnesia should be

added to allay the fever. Brandy should not be given unless

there should be faintness or collapse, and then only sparingly,

and should not on any account be continued; and the food

during the illness should be of the plainest.


A broken wing is often a less serious matter, for the bird

can hop about and keep in health ; and sometimes the muscles

will keep the wing in position and render a bandage unnecessary.

The patient, however, should be kept in a very low box cage,

with a perch but a trifle off the ground, so that it may not be put

to any temptation to open its wings; but this is only speaking

generall} r , for the details of the treatment of every case must

depend upon the nature of the case.


Iu March, 1898, my bird-woman came to me with the

intelligence that one of the birds had just fallen on to the floor. On

the floor of thebirdroom I found a little shapeless ball of feathers.

A Redrump had nipped a male Grey Siugingfinch, breaking the

wing; and the shock and the fall seemed to have killed the bird. But

it recovered ; and since lias been, and is still, the best songster

of the flock, and has been the father of several fully-reared

youngsters. Iu this case I made a mistake, and let him out of

the hospital too soon, and direct from the box cage to the aviary

and the company of a quarrelsome Green Siugingfinch. As a

consequence, the limb “gave” a little; and although the bird

can fly perfectly well, when at rest it may be seen that the wing

is a trifle out of position, which was apparently not the case

when the bird was first restored to liberty.


Iu September, 1899, I found that one of my two Red-

backed Buntings (.Embcrizci rutila ) had a broken wing. I think



