Diseases. 159 



camphorated water made into a lather with white curd soap, 

 and finally drenched with pure warm water, dried off with a 

 linen rag or old silk handkerchief, and then allowed to com- 

 pletely dry themselves before a fire in a cage or suitable box. 



By the early and vigorous adoption of these means the 

 majority of your birds will be saved, and the disease entirely 

 stamped out, but earnest and prompt action is a sine qua 

 non if your efforts are to be crowned with success, for this 

 appalling malady spreads with terrible rapidity, and when it 

 gets a firm footing its ravages are quite astounding. To a 

 new beginner a visitation of typhus is most dispiriting, and 

 causes many eager amateurs to relinquish their hobby. 



The symptoms to be observed in diagnosing this disease 

 are: First, the bird sits thick, and looks dull and heavy, and 

 is very listless; it goes searching about the bottom of the 

 cage as if in quest of something it wants but is unable to 

 obtain ; it moves in rapid succession, at first between the seed- 

 hopper, the egg drawer, the water fountain, and the bottom 

 of the cage, and in a short time it becomes weak and pros- 

 trate, with cold shiverings, and a good deal of thirst, the 

 symptoms developing quickly. The eyes become dull and 

 heavy looking, the bowels distended, the stools fetid, the 

 tongue dry and parched, and if you catch up the little 

 sufferer you will find it hot and feverish, and if you blow 

 back the feathers of the body you will generally find an 

 eruption. This eruption, which in a clear bird often looks 

 quite livid, does not, as a rule, show itself until the second 

 or third day. I consider this a hopeful sign, and with care 

 birds so affected soon recover. 



I am thankful to say that I have never experienced this 

 disease in any form among my own birds, but I would recom- 

 mend those fanciers who may have the misfortune to have a 

 visitation of this terrible malady among theirs to remove those 

 not affected to a separate room by themselves; keep them 

 warm, and feed them upon light nutritious food. Their bowels 

 must be kept open by the use of mild aperients, such as 

 magnesia (20gr. of magnesia and six senna leaves to each 



