18 INSECT PARASITES. 



it adhere more firmly to the walls. The sprinkling 

 of finely powdered lime upon the floors of the houses 

 and into the corners ^ill tend much to help their 

 eradication, whilst the perches should also receive 

 their share of attention. As pointed out later on, 

 both these and the nests should be movable, relays 

 of them being kept, so that they can be completely 

 purified at intervals. It is extremely difficult, of 

 course, in old sheds and houses where poultry are 

 often kept, to keep off these insects. To remedy 

 this however, it is quite possible, and most advisable, 

 to dress the nests with some powder that will ward 

 off these invaders and yet not affect the eggs. There 

 is nothing I find better for this purpose than to use 

 4 wood-wool ' or wood shavings, instead of the much 

 employed straw. There is something nauseating to 

 the fleas about 'wood-wool' which tends to keep 

 them away from the nests, and I have found that the 

 flavour of the eggs is in no ways impaired. Failing 

 the use of wood-wool, the well-known Keating's 

 Insect Pow^der dusted about the nests once a v^eek 

 will keep off all marauders. Similar successful 

 results in keeping off noxious insects from sitting- 

 birds have been obtained by the simple method of 

 puttino- a small quantity of sawdust soaked in 

 naphthalin in each nest. 



B. Lice (Mallophagci). 



The Lice which prey upon Birds are quite distinct 

 from those affecting animals and man. They are 



