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British Cage Birds. 



bleeding has ceased, anoint the part with a little fatty matter 

 of some sort — any kind will do, so long as it does not con- 

 tain salt ; a little spermaceti ointment or goose oil would 

 answer quite well. The wound is not, as a rule, long in 

 healing. 



Tympany. — This is a complaint from which some birds 

 occasionally suffer, and more particularly Larks. The air 

 gathers beneath the skin, and inflates it like a balloon. The 

 remedy is simple and effectual. The skin should be 

 pricked lightly with a fine sharp sewing-needle, and the air 

 pressed out ; the affected part should then be anointed with 

 a little spermaceti ointment or fine olive oil. 



Typhus Fevee. — This direful malady, which is extremely 

 fatal, may arise from want of cleanliness, ventilation, or pure 

 water, or it may be caused by permitting an accumulation 

 of decayed vegetable or other matter to remain in the cage 

 or aviary in hot weather, or by overcrowding. All these 

 things must be avoided, or disease and death will supervene. 

 If any person should be so unfortunate as to experience a 

 visitation of this dreadful scourge, remove the affected birds 

 at once to a separate room. Keep them warm, and feed on 

 light but nutritious diet. Their bowels must be freely dis- 

 charged by the use of aperients, such as Epsom salts, or 

 infusion of senna leaves, or a few grains of powdered rhubarb 

 or magnesia, which should be mixed with their drinking- 

 water. Two or three grains of James's Powder ought to be 

 added likewise, and from fifteen to twenty drops of the 

 tincture of opium or henbane. Condy's Fluid, or carbolic 

 acid, should be sprinkled about the room or aviary, to act as a 

 disinfectant (the acid must be diluted with water), or it may 

 be placed in a vessel and covered over with a cullender where 

 it cannot get upset ; in the latter case, the acid may be used 

 undiluted. The cages ought to be cleaned out, and Condy's 

 Fluid freely sprinkled all over them, inside as well as out. 



If the weather be mild, let in a plentiful supply of fresh 

 air during the daytime, but exclude the night air, unless in 

 very hot dry weather (say in June or July). Do not open 

 the window on damp, wet, or foggy days, but light a fire, 

 if there be a grate in the room. When the fever is exhausted 

 and the birds are convalescent, every cage must be thoroughly 

 cleaned out in order to stamp out the disease. First rinse 



