150 The Canary Book. 



that there are three species of this disorder i.e., scarlatina 

 simplex, or simple scarlet fever; scarlatina anginosa, scarlet fever 

 attended with inflammatory sore throat; and lastly, scarlatina 

 maligna, that is scarlet fever with malignant typhoid symp- 

 toms and sloughing sore throat. It was the latter and most 

 dangerous type from which my children and birds suffered. 

 Symptoms : This complaint begins with cold shiverings and 

 lassitude, followed by restlessness and a loss of appetite. If 

 you catch a bird affected with this complaint and examine 

 its tongue, you will find it rough and coated with a sort of 

 elimy mucus or yellow fur, at first slightly red, with raised 

 papillae, and after a day or two the tip and outer edges 

 become intensely so, and you will find after a few more days, 

 if of the virulent type, that the throat becomes swollen and 

 inflamed. In other respects the symptoms very greatly 

 resemble those of typhus, with the addition of a sort of dry 

 cough, and after the third day the body assumes a red 

 appearance on the feathers being blown back. If the bird 

 is likely to recover the eruption will begin to disappear about 

 the sixth day; but the danger is not then over, as the fever 

 leaves the birds languid and debilitated, and nourishing food 

 and tonics require to be administered. 



In the malignant form the eyes of the bird affected become 

 very dull, and there is generally a slight discharge from the 

 nostrils of acrid matter. Treatment : Firstly, attend to the 

 bowels. Put an ounce of Epsom salts, and a piece of Spanish 

 juice the size of a Spanish nut, into a pint bottle, and fill it 

 with warm water; when cold, and the ingredients are dis- 

 solved, give to the birds in place of the ordinary drinking 

 water for twelve hours. Then give half the quantity filled 

 up with water, and add to this twenty drops of sweet spirit 

 of nitre and twenty drops of antimonial wine to each ounce 

 of the former, to allay the symptoms. Give this fresh every 

 morning until the fever has entirely abated. If the throat 

 of the patient is swollen, make a gargle with twenty drops 

 of muriatic acid to one and a half ounces of water, and to 

 this add thirty drops of the tincture of myrrh ; open the mouth 



