56 FANCY PIGEONS. 



not. For better reference I shall treat of the principal 

 diseases fancy pigeons are liable to in alphabetical order. 



Bowels, Inflammation of. 



The disease most fatal to fancy pigeons is inflammation 

 of the bowels. Many have it at some period of their lives, 

 and a large proportion before the completion of their 

 first moult. It may almost be called the distemper of 

 pigeons, and may be known by the huddled-up appearance 

 of the bird. The disease is sometimes so rapid in its 

 action that in a few days the bird is reduced to nothing 

 but skin and bone. The power of flight is soon lost, 

 and the bird retires into a corner. When first observed, 

 the pigeon so affected should be secluded, and have access 

 to old lime. The best remedy I have found for this disease, 

 which is known in the fancy as " going light," is to give a 

 strong purge of common salt, and, a day or two after, from 

 six to ten drops of laudanum in a teaspoonful of water, for 

 two or three days in succession. In many cases nothing 

 seems to do the least good; but when the bird survives ten 

 days of illness, there is always good hope of its ultimate 

 recovery. When this disease attacks young pigeons in the 

 nest, which it does in some cases, there is no hope of their 

 recovery; but I have known them, when not attacked till 

 six weeks old, come through very severe attacks of it. 

 The most fatal time for them, when once able to fly and 

 do for themselves, is during their first moult, and those that 

 pass that period without having this distemper sometimes 

 take it during their second year, and not unfrequently when 

 feeding young ones. After this period they are compara- 

 tively safe, and their systems so hardened that, if they do 

 take it, they are able more easily to throw it off, though 

 there are exceptions. Many do not consider a bird safe 

 till it has passed through this distemper in some form or 

 other, and after safely passing through it many consider a 



