DISEASE OF THE BIRDS CROP. 



53 



the mucous membrane (^Spiroptera nasuta, R., according to Robin ; 

 Spiroptera uncinata, R., according to Ziirn) can equally give rise 

 to this affection. Intense inflammations of the mucous membrane 

 of the crop have also at- times been observed ; they result from 

 intoxications from various corrosives : phosphorus^ arsenic, and 

 mercurial preparations. 



Symptoms. The soft crop, which is quite common, shows a 

 distention of the reservoir; this distention is soft, clammy, or 

 tympanitic, according to its origin either from liquids or from 

 gas. The sick bird stops eating, is under the influence of nausea, 

 or vomiting, and fetid gases escape through its bill. They may 

 be expelled by artificial compression of the crop. The bird 

 becomes gradually weaker and may die from inanition. 



Treatment. Ziirn advises emptying the crop by methodical 

 massage performed upon this organ and the œsophagus, the pa- 

 tients head being held in a dependent position ; then administering 

 an astringent preparation, or a salicylic acid solution (in teaspoon- 

 fiil doses). After a twenty-four hours' diet, we may give slops, 

 soups, and easily digested food. This regimen ought to be con- 

 tinued for several days. 



Obstruction of the Crop : Ing^luvial Indigestion. 



Etiology. The obstruction of the crop is mostly due to inges- 

 tion of a too abundant quantity of indigestible matters (hard and 

 dry grain, and all kinds of foreign bodies). Pourquier has de- 

 scribed a case in which it was produced by the leaves of Bobinia 

 pseudo-acacia, L. In rarer cases it may be produced by pressure 

 exerted upon the œsophagus, lungs, thoracic reservoirs, and trachea, 

 when these organs are under the influence of an acute inflammation. 



[Indigestion of the crop may also be produced by the presence 

 in this organ of certain parasites, as the Trichosoma contortum 

 (Crep.) ; this form of the disease seems to aflect certain species of 

 ducks, especially the young. Railliet and Lucet have described 

 this form of indigestion as having existed with marked severity 

 in the Department of the Loiret, in France, where it made many 

 victims among Pekin ducks, and but few among the common 

 breeds. — w. l. z.] 



Symptoms. The most striking symptom is the excessive 

 volume of the crop. In a duck observed by Zurn, this organ 



