12 THE CAUSE OF MOST DISEASE. 



advantage, — they live longer, and, by their con- 

 stant voice, recall to mind the giver. 



The very general desire of the public to know 

 how to take the best possible care of their pets, and 

 the wish of the whole bird-trade for a treatise that 

 could be implicitly relied upon, free from all the 

 scientific attainments so freely shown in large works, 

 and at a popular price, has led the author to publish 

 what has been his own experience through a number 

 of years. 



First, we will commence with sick birds and their 

 treatment. *' My bird is sick : what shall I do for 

 it ? " this question is asked at the bird-stores times 

 without number, daily ; and it is just as easy an- 

 swered without knowing what ails the bird, as it is 

 for a physician to prescribe accurately for a disease 

 when simply informed that a member of the family 

 is sick, "and please send up some medicine at once." 



The Cause of most Disease is colds, which are 

 occasioned by either hanging a bird in a draught of 

 air, near a loose-fitting window, or keeping him in a 

 very hot room (sixty degrees is the proper tempera- 

 ture for a bird) through the day, and then in a cool 

 one at night, — a variation of perhaps forty degrees 

 in twenty-four hours. This cold, if not cured at 

 once, leads to asthma, and from that to a disease 

 known as the gapes. The best cure for the cold 

 is to feed, in addition to their regular seed, rape 

 and canary, and perhaps millet, a paste made 

 from a hard-boiled ^gg and one pulverized cracker, 

 thoroughly mixed together, using no water in mixing, 



