55 

 CHAPTER VII. 



TREATMENT OF BIRDS WHEN SICK. 



1. IT is utterly miserable to read the long lists given 

 of the birds' diseases and their so-called remedies. 



Plenty of preventive measures there might be rightly, 

 and a little nursing, for a sick bird is not generally 

 kindly treated by its own companions ; but I own 

 that a case which goes beyond a bath or a warm 

 wrap, a piece of liquorice or a rusty nail, a little 

 groundsel, or some watercresses, is generally, in my 

 opinion, not very likely to be improved by a lady's 

 doctoring. 



Up to that point, there is a little margin for a 

 small sort of quackery. 



2. First, there are " wooden shoes," which I con- 

 fess I find great delight in curing ; it is so pleasant 

 to see the birds' relief when the load falls off. This 

 discomfort arises from a damp or dirty cage, or one 

 not sufficiently supplied with clean red sand ; when 

 the feet become gradually perfectly clogged with a 

 sort of dirty shoe, sounding very much, indeed, as 

 if the bird wore sabots ; and when a bird is bought 

 in such a state, it is a legitimate case for attempting 

 a cure immediately. Take a saucer containing luke- 

 warm soft water, not hot, but milk-warm; and then 

 carefully catching the bird in one hand, cause i 



