Diseases. 137 



progresses, becoming intensely red, with a blackish hue beneath. 

 It is generally accompanied with obstinate constipation, though 

 sometimes there is diarrhoea. If the inflammation be in the 

 upper part of the intestines, the bird frequently throws out 

 of its mouth, with a " chit, chit ! " some dark, bilious-looking 

 matter; but if in the lower intestines, there is straining, and 

 a frequent desire to go to stool. Sometimes it happens that 

 the tongue of the patient is completely covered with sores, 

 and a disinclination to partake of food is the result. A small 

 piece of borax, finely powdered and put upon the tongue, will 

 mostly give relief when a bird is found to be suffering in this 

 respect. 



Thirst becomes urgent as the inflammation increases; but 

 cold drinks only increase the pain. Inflammation of the 

 bowels or, as it is sometimes called by writers on birds, 

 " rupture " is a complaint from which many young birds die, 

 and occasionally old ones. It is produced, I assume, in most 

 instances, by partaking of unwholesome food, such as sour 

 egg and bread or decayed vegetables, and in some cases by 

 bad or impure water, or by over- gorging with egg, &c. When 

 egg and bread have been thrown about the cage by adult 

 birds, or a lettuce-leaf, a piece of groundsel, chickweed, or 

 other vegetable of a like nature, and allowed to remain until 

 sour or decayed, the birds partaking of them are pretty cer- 

 tain to suffer from disorder in the bowels and intestines, and 

 ultimately from inflammation. 



The treatment of enteritis requires to be active and imme- 

 diate. Bleeding, blistering, and leeching cannot be resorted to 

 with such delicate little patients as canaries ; but a little tur- 

 pentine, made tolerably hot, and applied with a camel or hogs'- 

 hair brush to the inflamed part of the abdomen, will be found 

 to give considerable relief to the sufferer. The bowels must 

 likewise be acted upon by administering internally two or three 

 drops of castor-oil. After they have been freely evacuated 

 you may give the bird to drink, in place of its ordinary water, 

 a little thin gum-water (gum arable), to which has been 

 added ten drops of tr. opii (laudanum) and twenty drops of 



