DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT 107 



cayed food ; cold will also produce it. Foul water or water 

 glasses is another fruitful source of this complaint. When 

 a bird becomes affected it will be " all of a lump," lying 

 on the perch ; or if standing it will not be able to rest ; 

 it will keep putting its legs up and down in a spasmodic 

 manner. The bird refuses food, but will drink an unlimited 

 quantity of water if allowed to do so, whilst the bowels are 

 generally costive, although at times it is otherwise, and the 

 inflammation is accompanied by severe diarrhoea. Another 

 symptom is a cough, and when seized with a fit of coughing 

 the bird will throw from its mouth dark, bilious-looking 

 mucus. 



Examination of the bird will reveal the fact that the 

 abdomen is much swollen and discoloured, and, according 

 to the acuteness of the attack, will be the discoloration 

 of the stomach. In the earlier stages, or in the slight 

 attacks, it will be red, but in the more acute stages it 

 will be almost black, with a nasty greenish-yellow tinge. 



The treatment of this complaint must be prompt and 

 decided if it is to be effectual. The bird should be 

 caught and a httle turpentine should be applied to the 

 abdomen with a camel-hair brush. Two or three drops 

 of castor oil should be administered. When the bowels 

 have acted the bird may be allowed a drink of water, 

 to which has been added a Uttle opium and ipecacuanha 

 wine. To one ounce or wine-glassful of water add 

 fifteen drops of tincture of opium, and thirty of ipecac- 

 uanha wine ; a small piece of gum arable might also be 

 dissolved in it. 



No stimulating food should be given. Arrowroot 

 biscuits boiled in new milk make a capital diet for a 

 bird recovering from this complaint. On recovery the 

 bird will require a tonic of some kind. A small 

 quantity of citrate of iron and quinine placed in the drink- 

 ing water will do all that is required. To one ounce of 

 water add about as much of the citrate as will lie on a 

 threepenny piece. 



Hepatitis, or Inflammation of the Liver. 



Inflammation of the liver, or, as it is known to medical 

 men, hepatitis, is a very deadly disease, and one from which 

 some hundreds of birds die annually. The chief causes 



