NURSING. 33 
hospital box on a bed of hay in a warm place, 
and let her be very warm and quiet. The treat- 
ment for constipation is the same as for egg- 
binding, : 
Cases of Collapse.—Nothing is better than a 
little very weak brandy and water given with the 
toothpick, but only give a drop or two at a time 
or the bird might choke through being unable to 
gets its breath. You will probably need more help 
than this. Keep the patient in your hands, for the 
live heat will help to restore it, and if your aviary 
stove is going, heat several pieces of flannel by 
laying them on the top (being careful they do not 
scorch), and wrap round the sick bird. 
‘As fast as one flannel cools get another off the 
stove and put your cold one to re-heat. In this 
way you have a constant succession of warm 
cloths, Do not get the flannels too hot; I mean, 
do. not hurry the restoring of the bird—let it come 
gradually and naturally. Remember it is in a 
very weak state, and if you apply too strong 
remedies you may finally quench the little spark of 
life left in it. It is wonderful how far a bird may 
collapse, and yet live. JI have had birds cold, 
unconscious, and limp, and yet they have come 
round. If you have no stove (though I think every 
large wooden aviary should have one), or if it is 
in summer, when there is no fire on, you can heat 
the hot water bottle, and, placing the bottle inside 
the hospital box, lay the patient on it, wrapped 
in flannel. 
Over-grown Beaks and Nails.—These usually 
come either in very old birds, or in weakly young 
ones. In both cases they must be trimmed, and 
here your strong nail scissors will come in handy. 
Hold out the bird’s foot as I described whilst you 
were ringing it, and clip the nails off firmly, being 
careful not to cut into the quick, a little pink line 
that runs down the nail. 
It is easy to cut a bird’s claws by oneself, but it 
really needs two people to shorten a beak. Have 
someone just to hold the bird for you, then with 
your left hand hold the head steady, putting your 
hand over the bird’s head, with a finger resting on 
each side of the beak. Shift your fingers a little 
forward, gradually forcing the beak gently open, 
then firmly grasp whichever half of the beak you 
want to clip, and cut it with your right hand. 
Be sure and do not cut it into the quick. It is 
better to take off too little at the first snip, and 
then to cut off a little more, than to take off too 
much straight away. Round off the corners nicely, 
and try the beak closed to see if the two parts fit 
properly over each other. Don’t hurry, take your 
time over it, and hold the bird’s beak firmly, or it 
may twist it. 
When you spend a quiet ten minutes, standing 
quite still amongst your birds, you may notice far 
more than in many a hurried look round. The 
birds will soon learn to take no notice of you and 
will look on you as a friend, and not as a natural 
foe. It is at such a time as this that you must 
keep a sharp look out for such things as over- 
grown beaks and nails. Passed unnoticed, they 
may mean starvation in the one case, through 
inability to pick up the food, and a broken leg in 
the other—as indeed was, I believe, the cause of 
death in one of my Violet doves years ago— 
through the nail catching in a branch, and the 
bird not being able to free itself, for some over- 
grown nails grow quite hooked and curved. 
Fits.—I have only known this happen once or 
twice amongst my doves. Generally it is brought 
on by shock or fright. In one case the bird rolled 
over and over, and then went stiff and rigid. I 
dashed cold water on the head, gave it a very little 
to drink, and put it in a darkened cage and, of 
course, kept it away from the other birds to ensure 
great quiet. This is where a passage or spare 
space in an aviary comes in so usefully. It can be 
turned at once into a hospital, besides many other 
uses. Ina few hours the bird was quite restored. 
Tumours on the Head, and Affected Eyesight.— 
This is a terrible disease, and fortunately rare 
amongst doves. Possibly in the pigeon I] am 
speaking of the mischief was started by the bird 
knocking against the wire netting. I do not mind 
attending to small hurts in my birds, but to, cut 
open a tumour was more than I could face, so I 
sent away the bird to a skilled operator, who has 
most kindly operated on birds for me at various 
times. He told me the operation was very easy. 
You simply cut a slit in the skin with a penknife, 
when the tumour will be found, not adhering, but 
loose underneath, like a little white pea. I believe 
the bird had several tumours removed in this way, 
one so close to the eye as almost to press on the 
eyeball. The operation was most beautifully done, 
not a scar left, and the head, which was all 
swollen, became a proper shape again. Before, 
the face was a mass of lumps under the skin, 
making the bird’s head look a peculiar shape, but, 
strangely, the plumage was never affected, but 
always smooth and glossy. 
I do not know if the tumours were partly the 
cause, but some time later this same bird’s eyes 
began to fail. Little by little his sight went, till 
at last he was so blind he could not see to rise 
from the ground. Then his strength began to 
fail, and also that sure sign of weakness in a dove, 
a contraction or crookedness of the toes, as if the 
circulation were weakened, began to show. 
I put down a bed of hay and some food and 
water near, and thought I had better leave the 
D 
