122 



CANARY BIRDS. 



rag or a piece of lint, and then softly and tenderly pressed 

 back. At the same time a drop of a mixture, half castor-oil, 

 half Provence-oil, must be given daily for about five or six 

 days. The mixture might be given on a small piece of soft 

 bread. Should the excretion get thin and watery, the oil- 

 mixture must be stopped, and one to three drops of claret 

 given if diarrhoea continues. 



Sweating Sickness. — This disease sometimes assails 

 females while nesting. A finger placed underneath the 

 firmly-sitting bird will feel quite wet ; the eggs get spoiled, 

 the young perish, and, frequently, the old female dies also. 

 In the first instance the latter must be driven from the nest, 

 and if that is of no avail, then the male is caught and taken 

 out, so that the hen is compelled to come down and seek 

 her own food. In some cases a cure has been effected by 

 the cooling occasioned by this procedure ; a similar result is 

 obtained by taking the hatching hen and her nest away, 

 and placing both in a separate cage. This will be done in 

 cases where, as in the bird-room, for instance, the respective 

 male cannot be caught. Of late, good effects have been 

 produced by occasionally bathing the body of the hatching- 

 bird with salt water. Much more frequently, however, 

 young birds alone are subject to the sweating sickness, and 

 this is evidently owing to an impaired digestion. Preven- 

 tion : Best and most suitable food. Mr. Gotschke of Berlin 

 uses the following remedy ; When the young are three to 

 four days old, and the illness is noticed, one after the other 

 should, by means of a small pair of pincers, be placed into 

 a warm bath of 30 degrees. The bird is immersed as far as 

 the head (which latter will be washed by means of a soft 

 painting-brush), and it is then taken out, wrapped in soft 

 tissue or blotting-paper, and allowed to dry in some very 

 warm place. All the young birds will be treated in this 

 manner, and when the nest has been carefully cleaned and 



