Eradication of Lice on Pigeons. 3 



If directions are followed there need be no injury. When the dust 

 can is used two persons can work to better advantage than one. One 

 holds the pigeons and the other applies the treatment. As with the 

 pinch method, the powder should be applied by lifting the feathers 

 on several parts of the bird and dusting the powder next to the skin. 

 It is a good plan to hold the birds over a paper or pan so as to 

 recover the powder which drops. Care should also be taken not to 

 allow the powder to get into the food or water. 



ADVANTAGES OF SODIUM FLUORID. 



The danger of reinfestation from lice on molted feathers, etc., 

 appears to be negligible, due, no doubt, to the fact that the lice con- 

 fine themselves closely to the birds. Lice that get separated from 

 the host either die in a short time (the writer has observed Gonio- 

 cotes compar N. to live for 48 days away from its host and CoTpo- 

 cephalum longicaudum X. and Lipeurus bacillus X. between 30 and 

 41 days) or get back on the host. Owing to the character of the 

 feathers it seems likely that some of the sodium fluorid remains in 

 them for a long period, this explaining the high efficiency of one 

 treatment. To be on the safe side it is a good plan to make a general 

 clean-up at the time of treatment. 



If the owner of a flock desires merely to treat individual cases of 

 heavy louse infestations, sodium fluorid is undoubtedly the best ma- 

 terial to use, because one treatment when thoroughly made kills all 

 the lice and gives protection for a considerable length of time, even 

 though the birds are exposed to reinfestation. 



INEFFECTIVENESS AND RISK IN PLACING THE INSECTICIDE IN 



THE BATH WATER. 



It has been suggested that lice may be controlled by putting a 

 licicide in the bath water. This would undoubtedly be a labor-saving 

 method if effective. The author has tried this method but found it 

 ineffective. Among the things tried in the bath were salt, soap, 

 phur, sodium fluorid, and creolin. Though all of these materials 

 will kill lice, yet none were found effective when placed in the bath. 

 The reason for the noneffectiveness of a treated bath lies, it seems, in 

 the superficial bathing habit of the birds, by which comparatively 

 little water gets beneath the feathers. There is also danger in put- 

 ting poisonous insecticides in the bath water, for the birds drink 

 from the pans. As sodium fluorid has a taste similar to salt, pigeons 

 would not be averse to drinking from a bath containing this chemical. 

 One bird in the experiment was killed, apparently from drinking 

 some of the sodium fluorid bath, even though fresh water was also 

 provided. 



