140 



British Cage Birds. 



excrement is white, clammy, and watery, and there is then 

 considerable danger. At this stage, give flax seed alone, or 

 green plantain seed; but if not procurable, a little scalded 

 rape seed and a few grains of linseed may be substituted. 

 Put twenty drops of the tincture of cayenne pepper and a 

 little sugar candy in the drinking-water, and, when the bird 

 appears a little revived, give it a small quantity of ripe chick- 

 weed with the seeds upon it. If the bird is much purged, 

 a little prepared chalk, mixed with white bread soaked in warm 

 milk, will prove very beneficial. Scouring is a dangerous 

 malady, and often attended with fatal consequences if relief 

 is not speedily obtained. 



Brown Linnets are also subject to surfeit, brought on by 

 cold and exposure, or by being allowed to eat too much 

 green food, especially unripe chickweed, or the variety with 

 broad leaves, which is hurtful to birds of all kinds, old or 

 young. This distemper may be discovered by observing the 

 bird, which breathes heavily, constantly moving its abdomen 

 with a heaving motion, and sitting in a listless and melancholy 

 attitude, with its feathers upheaved or puffed out. When 

 affected by this malady, the bird cracks a lot of seed, and, 

 instead of eating it, scatters it about the bottom of the 

 cage. If you catch the bird, and examine it, you will find 

 its bowels distended, and presenting a somewhat transparent 

 appearance, full of small red veins, and greatly distended 

 towards the vent. When this complaint assumes an acute 

 form, the bowels become black — gangrene has set in, and 

 death soon follows. The best remedy is to keep the patient 

 warm and quiet, and give it a little oatmeal, moistened with 

 hot milk ; a few grains of dry oatmeal should also be 

 sprinkled among the seed supplied to it, for a few days, if 

 costive ; but if purged, substitute maw seed and crushed hemp 

 seed, and put a little hay saffron and thirty drops of Parrish's 

 Chemical Food in its drinking-water. Give also a little melon 

 seed, chopped into small pieces, and a small quantity of bruised 

 lettuce seed, as soon as the bird is observed to be getting 

 well. 



During the moulting sickness, most birds require a little 

 special attention, and a frequent change of diet ; a rusty 

 nail, a little saffron, and a few aniseeds should be put into 

 the water given them to drink, and they should be kept 



