INFECTIOUS DISEASES OF CANARY BIRDS 259 
marked differences. No subsequent writer seems to have encoun- 
tered the disease described by Freese. 
SEPTIC ENTERITIS OF CROSS BILLS 
Tartakowski has described a disease occurring in cross bills (Loxia 
curvirosa and pityopsittacus), gold finches (Carduelis elegans), 
green finches (Chrysonttris spinus) and rarely in canary birds. 
Symptoms. The bird exhibits periods of dullness alternating 
with periods of apparent complete health. There are frequent at- 
tacks of weakness, somnolence with impairment of appetite, and in- 
ereased thirst. The disease causes death in from 10 to 12 days. 
During the last few days the bird sits on the bottom of the cage 
with eyes closed. 
Morbid anatomy. When the disease has been of long duration 
the carcass shows great emaciation. There are no ecchymoses or 
exudates in the serous cavities. The breast muscles are always 
yellow as if cooked. Spleen and liver are always enlarged. Kid- 
neys and heart muscle are yellow and clouded. Rarely there is 
marked hyperemia of the intestinal canal. Organs of respiration 
are normal. The brain is anemic. 
Etiology. There is constantly found in the spleen, liver and 
blood a rod which measures from 2. to 2.5 microns long and varies 
from .6 to 1. micron thick. The organism is actively motile and 
Gram negative. There is nothing distinctive about the growth on 
agar and gelatin. Gas formation occurs. There is no liquefaction 
in the latter. Milk is not coagulated. Tartakowski has designated 
the organism as Bacillus loxiacida. 
Pathogenesis. The organism is fatal to cross bills when ad- 
ministered in drinking water, and when injected subcutaneously or 
intramuscularly. In guinea pigs a local swelling is induced at the 
point of inoculation together with transient fever. Intraperitoneal 
inoculation causes a sero-fibrinous peritonitis and death in from one 
to two days. Rabbits injected the same way do not always die from 
peritonitis. 
REFERENCES 
1. Adam u. Medler. Ueber Paratyphus-B-Infektionen bei Kanarien- 
végeln und Untersuchungen iiber das Vorkommen von Bakterien der Koli- 
Typhusgruppe im normalen Kanarienvogeldarm. Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. 
(Etc.), Orig., Bd. 62, 1912, S. 569. 
