34 MY FOREIGN DOVES AND PIGEONS, 
bird to die. I dreaded catching him, and remedies 
seemed useless; but he looked so piteous—listening 
on all sides and turning his sightless eyes to try 
and locate the sound—that I had not the heart to 
leave him to his fate, though I had little hope of 
cure. 
J got some boracic lotion, the formula of an 
oculist, and with this lotion in a littlhe warm water 
I bathed the Rufous pigeon’s eyes, at first three 
times a day, after some weeks’ treatment only 
once. In one eye the sight was well recovered ; 
the other eye was much better, but there was a 
small ulcer on the eyeball, which made it not so 
satisfactory as the first. One curious feature was 
the change of colour in the eye. When in health 
the eye of a Rufous pigeon is like a living ruby, 
but gradually in my sick bird the colour faded, 
and the eye became quite pale; but it recovered 
the colour almost perfectly in the best eye, and 
the other one improved. 
When first I began the bathing both eyes were 
closed and so terribly swollen was the head that 
its shape was quite distorted, the eyelids standing 
out as if peas had been forced under the lids. 
Gradually the swelling disappeared, altogether on 
one side and nearly on the other. Most fortu- 
nately, the bird could always eat, though how it 
found its food I don’t know. It is a good plan 
when you put a blind bird in your hospital box 
to place its seed in a shallow dripping tin (a fair 
size), and stand the patient in it. It will feel the 
food then, and if it has any intelligence will learn 
to pick it up. 
Now in doctoring birds a little thought is needed, 
both to save yourself trouble and the patient pain, 
and as knowledge only comes from experience and 
this is written chiefly for beginners in aviculture, 
it will perhaps not be quite wasted space to tell you 
how to nurse a case of this kind. First, before 
you catch your bird, get all the things you want 
ready on a table. You need a small clean pot 
partly filled with lukewarm water (cold water 
would chill the eye too much), and to this add 
about a third more of boracic lotion. To bathe the 
eye use a small piece of medicated cotton wool, 
and when bathing do not touch the eye, which will 
be very tender, just squeeze the lotion over it. 
When the bathing is done press the wool dry 
and with it mop up any drops that may have fallen 
on the feathers. Be sure, and this is important, 
to use fresh lotion and water, and fresh cotton 
wool, every time you bathe the eye; don’t make 
an old lot do twice. 
Hold the dove in your left hand, against your 
side, the thumb over the shoulder, the first finger 
round across the breast, while the second finger 
acts as a perch for the feet. Held in this way 
the bird is quite comfortable and a safe prisoner; 
it cannot get away, and its right wing being 
pressed against you secures it on that side. 
A man has more advantage in this than a 
woman, having a larger grip and firmer hand. 
But with care and practice I find it quite easy to 
manage by myself. In bathing the eyes don’t 
hurry. If the bird begins to try and jerk after a 
bit, let it have a few seconds’ rest to quiet down, 
then start again. Don’t let the lotion run into 
the beak if you can help it; if you hold the bird 
rather inclined downwards there will be less risk 
of this happening. 
I have spolien of a “‘hospital’’? box to put sick 
birds in. In the case of this Rufous pigeon, it 
lived for some time in this box, for, of course, it 
needed catching many times, and could not have 
been caught up each time from the aviary, and 
also it had to be kept in the shade on account of 
its eyes. I want to tell you now how to manage 
to get your bird in and out of a box like this, and 
make it fresh and clean without having anyone to 
help you, and without distressing the bird. 
First fill a duplicate pot with seed and another 
with water, and put them handy where you can 
easily reach them, or if the bird is not nervous, 
take out the old pots and replenish them first. 
The wire lid to your box must be quite loose, made 
of firm, heavy wire and just laid on the top, not 
in any way fastened down, as you want to slide 
your arms under it when catching the bird. In 
catching use both hands, and get the thumbs well 
over the back, keeping the wings down. You can 
manage to get the patient out of the box quite 
comfortably by raising the lid with your arms 
when you have once caught the bird. It only 
needs a little practice, and J did everything by 
myself for this special bird for weeks. When you 
have finished bathing the bird's eyes, hold it firmly 
against your left side, and with your free right 
hand put the ‘‘hospital’’ in order before returning 
the patient. Take out the paper from the floor of 
the box, turn up the box and knock any seed or 
bits out, put in your fresh paper, sliding it under 
the perch, and put inside the box the fresh seed 
and water. It is all quite easy to do this with one 
hand, provided you make your preparations first. 
When you have done this, replace the wire lid 
on the box (the lid should be slightly larger than 
the top) before you put back the bird. You can 
now raise the lid with one finger, and with both 
hands carefully place the bird, its back towards. 
you, on the perch, when it will be probably quite 
quiet. You may think all these little details un- 
necessary, but if you try to replace the patient with 
one hand it will most likely struggle, and if you 
try to put the bird in first and the lid on after- 
