Our Infirmary. 131 



cage by himself, where we prescribed for him alternate 

 doses of rheum and mercurius, mixing four or five 

 drops of each in two separate vases of water. At the 

 same time we kept him very warm, supplying him 

 with boiled bread and milk, and other nourishing food, 

 which soon brought him round, and effected a cure. 

 We considered ourselves very fortunate, for great 

 numbers of birds are carried off annually by this 

 disease, which sometimes rages like an epidemic 

 amongst the feathered tribe, as it does in the human 

 race. The same treatment which is found most suc- 

 cessful amongst the latter, will prove equally effectual 

 with birds. A little tincture of camphor dropped into 

 their water or on a lump of sugar, will also be of 

 service in the early stages, but if this fail, the prescrip- 

 tion above, I believe, will be found better than any of 

 the usual remedies ordinarily found in books, many of 

 which are as absurd as they are cruel. 



The next case which called for immediate and decided 

 treatment was that of the Charming Princess, who, 

 after she had made her nest, we discovered to be egg- 

 bound. This was a dangerous case brought on by the 

 sudden change in the weather, which just then became 

 as nipping as the coldest day in winter. She was a 

 long while making her nest, occupying more than a 

 week over what some of her companions would have 

 finished in a couple of days. However it was com- 

 pleted at last, when we observed she began to look 

 poorly, crouching down to the ground, or sitting all of 

 a heap on the perches. No eg^ was laid, and she 

 appeared day after day to get visibly worse, until we 



