Treatment of Birds when Sick. 61 



has been beaten up, after pouring off the water, with 

 some cold milk and maw or poppy seed, of which 

 most birds ar*e fond. This small seed scattered 

 amongst the sand is also invaluable for teaching 

 young birds to peck. For a sick Goldfinch thistle 

 and groundsel seeds are the best kind of food, and 

 very generally a few ants' eggs are good and 

 strengthening. They can be kept dry in sand all 

 the winter, and softened by hot water. 



10. Young birds are excessively liable to a disease 

 which resembles that called in poultry " the gapes," 

 though it does not seem to be at all the same thing in 

 reality. The bird mopes and is uncomfortable, ruffles 

 up its feathers, and keeps opening its bill as if it wanted 

 air. The bill is generally dry and yellowish underneath 

 the eyes, and the bird has a generally miserable 

 look about it suggestive of its real disease , an exceed- 

 ingly bad cold. Some strong black tea without milk, 

 linseed, poppy seed, plenty of green stuff, and a little 

 liquorice in the water, are amongst the best remedies, 

 but perfect warmth is the greatest requisite. I think 

 this complaint is contagious, and, therefore, should 

 always recommend removing any other birds from the 

 same cage, or if in an aviary, placing the sick bird 

 in hospital. 



11. It is a very great thing to make young birds 

 wash properly ; in pluming themselves afterwards 

 they are forced to have recourse to the provision 



