46 POULTRY DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT. 



Fowls are occasionally injured by eating the leaves of poison- 

 ous plants. The sense of taste, however, protects the birds in 

 most cases. Mr. H. B. Green (Illus. Poultry Record, Vol. I, 

 p. 689) says in this connection : "Woodlands and fields abound 

 in poisonous plants, and yet it is seldom, except in the case of 

 birds that have been starved of green food and have become 

 ravenous for it, that fowls ever succumb to vegetable poisons 

 as thus obtained. Protection apparently lies in the fact that 

 undesirable plants have repulsive flavors. Especially in sub- 

 urban poultry keeping, danger arises when flower borders are 

 weeded, seedlings thinned out, and plant rubbish swept up, if 

 the resulting collection is thoughtlessly given to fowls in con- 

 fined runs. Such birds are generally always ready for green 

 food in any form and in their eagerness to satiate the craving 

 the bad is often taken in with the good." 



TREATMENT FOR POISONS IN GENERAI,. 



The above paragraphs have dealt with poisons rather more 

 fully than is usual in treatises on poultry diseases. In the great 

 majority of cases a poisoned bird is not discovered until too late 

 for treatment. Even if found in time it is usually not worth 

 the poultryman's time to treat individual birds. The symptoms 

 of the different poisons have been given in some detail with the 

 hope that they may enable the poultryman to distinguish the 

 kind of poisoning which they may encounter and may thus be 

 able to remove the source of the trouble before other birds are 

 affected. 



