INTRODUCTION. 19 



a speedy death is the general consequence. If this do not 

 happen, the breathing is not the less difficult and painful; 

 and recovery is rare, at least without the greatest care and 

 attention. 



Birds that eat insects and worms, occasionally, by acci- 

 dent, swallow some extraneous substance, which, sticking in 

 their throat, stops their respiration and stifles them. The only 

 remedy is to extract the foreign body, which requires much 

 skill and dexterity. 



When asthma is brought on by eating seeds, which are too 

 old, spoiled, or rancid, Dr. Handel recommends some drops of 

 oxymel, (honey and vinegar boiled to a syrup,) to be swallowed 

 for eight days following. But the best way is to change the 

 seed, and be sure there is none but good seed in the feeding 

 trough. 



Atrophy, or Wasting. — This is caused by giving unnatural 

 food to the bird, which destroys the digestive power of its 

 stomach. In this case, it disgorges its food, ruffles its feathers, 

 and does not arrange them, and becomes thin very fast. The 

 best thing is to make it swallow a common spider, which 

 purges it, and put a rusty nail into its water, which strengthens 

 the tone of the stomach, giving it at the same time its proper 

 and natural food. Green food, such as lettuce, endive, chick- 

 weed, and particularly water cresses, is the safest remedy. A 

 very great appetite is a sign of this disease. A Siskin, men- 

 tioned by Dr. Bechstein, that was dying of atrophy, had nothing 

 but water cresses for three days following, and on the fourth 

 he sung. 



Consumption. — This is usually the result of unnatural food, 

 which interrupts the function of digestion, and it is recognised 

 by the bird inflating and distending itself. The feathers are 

 ruffled, and the flesh dwindles. No better remedy, perhaps, 

 can be found than to give such birds a common spider, which 

 purges them, and to lay in their water a rusty nail, which 

 strengthens the stomach. They must, at the same time, be fed 

 with the best description of their appropriate food. In birds 

 A which will eat vegetables, and especially water cresses, this 



