200 The Illustrated Book of Poultry, 



The diet to consist of good barley-meal, given warm, and slightly seasoned with cayenne ; and the 

 drinking water to have a drop or two of M'Dougall's Fluid Carbolate mingled with it. The best 

 medicine, to commence a few hours after the oil, is a copaiba capsule given twice a day ; but if it 

 be necessary to prepare these specially, they will be better as follows : — 



Balsam Copaiba i ounce. 



Liquorice, in Powder in 



Piperine i drachm. 



To be divided into sixty doses, each enclosed in a gelatine capsule ; or if this cannot be done, adding 



enough magnesia to make the m.ass into solid pills : in either case giving one morning and evening. 



About the third day another dose of oil, or instead thereof two grains of calomel for a large or 



one for a small bird should be given, if necessary ; but improvement under this treatment is 



generally so rapid that there may probably be no need for a second purgative. The copaiba and 



chlorinated soda appear, in fact, to exert an almost specific action upon the roup secretion, and 



unless very far gone, recovery may almost be counted upon. 



In very aggravated cases of roup the entire throat is sometimes filled with the diseased 

 secretion, in the form of a plug, so that the bird is strangled.* If the throat be at all affected, the 

 solution (pure) should be applied with a camel-hair pencil, first removing w^h any convenient 

 instrument as much of the secretion as possible. Chlorinated soda has long been thus used in roup 

 by the more scientific American fanciers, with marked success ; and in a special paper on the 

 subject. Dr. Kunze, of New York, reports that a large mass of the secretion placed in the solution 

 was speedily entirely dissolved, which was not the case even by the strongest acetic acid. 



A fowl which has been cured of roup should be secluded for a few days after recovery, and 

 have a last wash with the chlorinated soda before returning to its companions. Care should also 

 be taken to avoid sudden exposure in cold or wet weather, but a fine genial day be chosen 

 for making the restoration. 



Scaly Legs. — See Elephantiasis. 



Soft Eggs. — If these occur frequently it is almost always a sign of over-feeding. Where the 

 egg is tolerably complete, all but the shell, it will be enough to miss one meal and thenceforth give 

 less ; but if the outer membrane be absent, and still more if yolks only be dropped, the prescription 

 given under the head of " Egg-bound" should be administered, and the bird fed very sparingly on 

 mashed potatoes only, in order to stop laying till the system be sufficiently reduced. 



In some cases soft eggs occur from the entire absence of any materials to form the shell. The 

 remedy for such is of course obvious, and consists in the supply of old mortar, burnt oyster-shell 

 pounded, or similar ingredients. If none of these are at hand, lime-water will be sufficient. Indeed, 

 in all such cases it is as well to give lime-water for drink, which is easily prepared by putting a 

 piece of lime in several gallons of water, and giving it an occasional stir for twenty-four hours. The 

 water will not dissolve more lime than is beneficial in the case considered. 



Ulceration.— Under the name of " canker " has frequently been described an affection for 

 which the heading we have chosen is every way a far more correct title. It usually occurs about the 

 head, commencing with a watery discharge from the eyes, which by degrees becomes of a firmer 

 character, and assumes an offensive odour, the nostrils being at first unaffected. The disease 



• These cases strongly resemble the disease known as canker or ulceration ; but as the treatment is very similar, this need 

 occasion little an.\iety. 



