THE HOSPITAL 89 



hardly know when it occurs but for finding 

 the dropped feathers in the cage. 



If your bird mopes and seems miserable in 

 moulting, exert yourself to divert him ; try 

 some way to give him happiness and a fresh 

 interest in life, and I believe you will find this 

 a charm above medicine. 



Cold is perhaps the most common disorder 

 of birds, caused, in general, by the carelessness 

 of their owners. A cold is indicated by sneez- 

 ing and coughing, and the patient should be 

 treated like a human being removed from 

 draughts, kept quiet, and given medicine. 



The only medicine one should dare adminis- 

 ter to a creature so delicate as a bird is the 

 homceopathic, and I have found Humphrey's 

 Specifics the most simple in cases like this, 

 where the little sufferer cannot tell how he 

 feels. In the case mentioned, take the Spe- 

 cific for a cold, and dissolve one pill in fresh 

 water in the bird's drinking-cup. Then every 

 time he drinks he will take his medicine. 



A domestic remedy for a cold, which is 

 sometimes successful, is a piece of raw salt 

 pork fastened between the wires. The bird 

 will peck at it, and I have known it to cure 



