CANARIES AND CAGE-BIRDS. 



are better ; but grays, and others that size, must have the largest cages, fif- 

 teen inches in diameter, or eighteen to twenty-four inches long. Parrots allowed 

 the flight of a room, unless it is given solely to them, are apt to eat something inju- 

 rious, and, with so much exercise, do not learn or talk as much as when confined to 

 cage or stand. 



Bathing. A few Parrots bathe naturally in water, but the majority take only 

 sand baths. A bird keeps in much better health if given a bath one to three times a 

 week through the year, according to the needs and health of the bird. Use from a 

 pint to a quart of tepid water in which a teaspoonful of borax has been dissolved, 

 spraying the bird with the half-pint atomizer. If a teaspoonful of wine is after- 

 wards thrown on the bird with a small atomizer, the plumage will become glossy 

 and beautiful. 



Diseases. The principal indication of the state of health is in the condition 

 of the excretions. In a thoroughly healthy Parrot they consist of two parts : a 

 thickish dark-green and thinish white substance. Whenever both parts run into one 

 another, or one predominates, when the excretion is all greenish gray, slimy white, 

 or watery, the bird is no longer quite healthy. Any severe internal disease of Par- 

 rots is difficult to cure, because it is hard to make a proper diagnosis. Again, the 

 disease and its remedy may be understood, and it may not be possible to use the 

 remedy because the bird will not take it voluntarily, and if force be used, that is of 

 itself harmful. When the remedies cannot be mixed with a small quantity of soaked 

 bread, and eaten, if the bird will not voluntarily take the munmixed, the only alter- 

 native is to treat the bird like a young child, " opening his mouth and holding his 

 nose." 



Influenza, Cold in Throat, Nose, or Mouth. Symptoms: Sneezing; 

 slimy yellow discharge from the nostrils, which become encrusted ; shaking of the 

 head ; a sleepy, puffed-up appearance. Put the bird at once in a warm place, near a 

 stove if possible. Add to the regular seed a few bird peppers ; into a glass of 

 water put ten drops of aconite, and every hour pour a teaspoonful down the bird's 

 throat. Second remedy : Let the bird inhale tar vapor, putting the tar in a bottle, 

 one part of tar to twenty-five parts of hot water, and hold under the nostril, 

 rub the beak and throat externally with a solution of chlorate of kali, one part, and 

 twenty parts of hot water ; cleanse the nostrils and the beak with a feather dipped 

 in salt water, and then moisten them with the oil of almonds. 



Catarrh in the Air Tubes. Symptoms: Hoarseness, coughing, rapid 

 breathing, and rattling in the throat. Treatment: Administer something sweet, 

 cuch as honey or pure licorice juice. Mix a half grain of chloride of ammonia to 

 one teaspoonful of clarified honey and fifty drops of fennel water. Give a half or 

 a whole teaspoonful several times daily, using judgment in each case as to quantity 

 and frequency. Second remedy : Mix thirty drops of extract of dulcamara with 

 one half pint of water, and give a half or whole teaspoontul twice daily ; and let the 

 bird inhale the tar vapor. Only tepid water should be given, and the mouth, far 

 back into the throat and the nostrils, should be smeared with a solution of salicylic 

 acid, one part to three hundred parts water. 



Inflammation of the Lungs. Symptoms : Difficult, short, or wheezing 

 breathing, with open beak, hot breast, melancholy, want of appetite, perceptible 



