EMACIATION. 



110 



powdered rhubarb with sugar mixed among the food, but it 

 is hardly possible to save the birds. 



Obstruction Of the Bowels may arise from various 

 causes, but it is chiefly engendered by an impaired digestion. 

 Symptoms .-• Pressure to excretion, a jerking movement of 

 the back part of the body, ruffled feathers, dejection, want 

 of appetite. Cure: First of all the attempt to produce 

 mechanical excretion by means of the insertion of the eye of 

 a needle steeped in oil (ricinus and olive-oil in equal parts) 

 into the aperture for excrements ; also a simple water-injec- 

 tion given by means of a fine india-rubber syringe ending in 

 a thin point of blown glass. Doses of castor oil with gruel 

 (one to two drops once or twice a day), scraped, sweet 

 carrots and green food are also suggested as aperients. 



Dropsy. — Cause : Catching cold, inflammation of the 

 abdomen, also caused by other disorders such as tubercles in 

 the entrails. Symptoms : Difficult breathing at the com- 

 mencement ; and later, swelling of the body ; and when 

 at its height, a clearly perceptible moisture in the affected 

 parts. It is rarely curable. 



Fattiness, Obesity. — Cause : Bad feeding and tending. 

 Symptoms : Difficult breathing, panting, ponderous move- 

 ments ; hard, or, at least, thickish excretion; and, on closer 

 inspection, a very full body cushioned with fat, a slack, 

 wrinkled, inactive skin, also bald spots. Cure : Reduce 

 food, much green-herb, in case of costiveness, ricinus-oil 

 will be given once or twice a day, in doses of from one to 

 three drops, and lastly, a spacious cage, and frequent bath- 

 ing. 



Emaciation is not, in itself, an illness, but only a 

 morbid symptom in various phases. Sometimes it is merely 

 the consequence of an impeded digestion, but in most cases 

 it originates in various disorders of the organs of digestion, 



