132 BIRDS. 



or other, but the cause should be sought : it is of no use feeding 

 with tonics if worms are devouring the digested food before it 

 can enter the animal's blood. Want of light or fresh air in the 

 case of town-kept birds is frequently the reason of the debility, 

 and the treatment is obvious. 



DIARRHCEA AND DYSENTERY, 



There is a scientific distinction between these conditions, but 

 it need not concern us here ; for all practical purposes dysentery 

 is diarrhoea long continued. 



Causes. — Chiefly dietetic errors, as feeding too much on 

 potatoes, cooked foods, sour stuff from the kitchen, or excess of 

 green food after long confinement. Worms also set up an 

 irritable condition which nature seeks to relieve by profuse 

 evacuations. 



Treatment. — Clear the bowels with a dose of castor oil, (no 

 matter the purging), then give pills of opium, chalk, and 

 cayenne pepper. Another good combination is to be found 

 in bismuth, powdered catechu, and alum or tannic acid. The 

 latter appears to suit turkeys and pheasant-chicks better than 

 any other. 



The food should be astringent, as rice, boiled eggs mixed 

 with bread and milk, or puddings. 



DIPHTHERIA (so called). 



A disease of fowls in which a false membrane forms in the 

 throat. As a pinch of salt often appears to cure this, it cannot 

 be true diphtheria, although microscopic examination would lead 

 us to suppose so. 



ECZEMA, 



An eruption which is often the cause of birds pulling out 

 their feathers. It is not very common among fowls, but parrots 

 are frequently disfigured by its effect. 



