COLD — INFLAMMATION OP THE LUNGS. 225 



Sometimes the tongue is too long for the mouth, and the 

 constant irritation causes canker in the lower mandible. In 

 Buch cases, cutting, off the tip of the tongue and dressing the 

 affected place twice a day with salicylic acid will almost always 

 effect a cure. 



Colds, if taken in time, will often yield to very simple 

 treatment. As soon as any watery secretion in nose or eyes is 

 noticed, give a small pinch of Epsom salts, and put the bird in 

 a warm pen, bathing the legs every night in hot water, and 

 carefully drying after. A second mode of treatment that often 

 answers is to give every morning a few bits of sugar the size 

 of a pea, on which have been dropped spirits of camphor. A 

 drop twice daily of tincture of aconite is another good medicine 

 in many cases— the mother tincture, given in a little water. 

 In all cases, removal to a pen out of the draught is the main 

 thing. If the running is at all profuse, bathe the eyes or 

 nostrils with warm tea. 



In severe colds, especially where bronchitis or inflammation 

 • of the lungs are suspected, it is often of great benefit to apply 

 diluted ointment of biniodide of mercury to the ribs or under 

 the wings once a day for three or four days ; or spirits of 

 turpentine may be rubbed in over a space the size of a shilling 

 between the shoulders. In all such cases the birds should be 

 mainly fed on oatmeal pills soaked in milk, or other soft 

 food. Inflammation of the lungs is best distinguished from a 

 merely severe cold, by the marked high temperature. 



Constipation will usually yield to either jalap, Epsom salts, 

 or castor-oil. Another very simple and useful purge is a tea- 

 spoonful of warm treacle. 



Crop-hovmd is in pigeons practically confined to Pouters, 

 and has been treated of at page 152. 



Crop, Watery, see Foul Crop, 

 P 



