WILD ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY 



TREATMENT OF PARROTS. 



One of the commonest and most frequent maladies that 

 we meet with in parrots is the loss of the feathers. No 

 doubt, in many instances, this is the result of skin disease, 

 produced by artificial feeding and want of exercise, to which 

 something more may be added, viz. the want of occupation. 

 It must be borne in mind that we have in the parrot a 

 very highly-organized and intelligent creature to deal 

 with. A bird that listens with such attentive watchfulness 

 to every sound and imitates to so great a nicety that which 

 it hears, with a memory which retains those sounds and 

 which it repeats for years afterwards, must have also a tend- 

 ency to acquire a habit of amusing itself, which it does in 

 a very unpleasant way as regards its own appearance. It 

 is quite certain that the bird- may be perfectly healthy, 

 and in good condition in every respect except in its 

 plumage, of which to such an extent will some parrots 

 denude themselves, that the only vestige of feathers to be 

 found upon them is on their heads, which may be in the 

 most perfect and beautiful condition, simply because they 

 are beyond the reach of his bill. If the supposed disease 

 of the skin prevents the feathers growing on the body of 

 the bird, would not this same disease extend to the skin of 

 the head ? Long experience has shown the writer that 

 the want of amusement, proper food, and exercise produce 

 these unpleasant and unsightly conditions. It may be 

 reasonably supposed that want of proper food and exercise 

 would be productive of diseases, and in many cases it is so, 

 but more generally the want of amusement is the chief 

 cause of a bird biting off his feathers. May not the habit, 

 in the human species, of biting the finger-nails be brought 

 on through the want of employment, and not considered as 



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