€AGE AND SINGING BIRDS. 
97 
void her eggs ; if not, try a few drops of castor oil adminis- 
tered in a quill : should this fail, there is little chance for her. 
3rd. Yellotv Gall or Scab makes its appearance about the 
head and eyes 5 sometimes there is a small ulcer the size of 
a hemp-seed. This must be carefully cut off with a sharp 
pen-knife, and the place anointed with fresh butter, or 
washed with urine ; the bird should have fresh nourishing- 
food 4th. Sweating most usually affects sitting hens, and 
"will, if not cured, destro}^ the brood. Wash the body of the 
patient in a good strong solution of salt, and after a few 
minutes with fresh water; dry her as rapidly as possible in 
the sun. Do this once or twice a day, and sprinkle a little 
sherry wine over her plumage. Supply her with plenty of 
good food to tempt her off the nest; she is most likely a 
weakly bird, and injures herself by sitting too close. A 
sweating hen is not fit for a breeder, so never use her for 
this purpose twice. 5th. Asthma arises frequently from a 
disordered stomach, and may be relieved by the use of 
soaked plantain and rape-seed. 6th. Sneezing, often caused 
by an obstruction of the nostrils, and may be cured by pass- 
-jng a very fine feather through them ; sometimes the result of 
a cold. Careful exclusion from draughts, good food, &c., are 
the remedies in this case. 7th. Huskhiess, or Loss of Voice. 
— ^Young cocks, when moulting, are frequently so affected, 
but birds of all ages and at all times may be ; a cold is the 
general cause. Never purchase a husky bird : you may be 
told it is only a little cold, and will pass off*. So it may, 
but it will most likely return before long, and become a 
chronic disease, ending in decHne. The remedial measures 
are : — Keep the bird warm, and give it some linseed with its 
rape and canary, and ripe plantain if it can be got. Every 
morning it should have a small teaspoonful of warm bread 
and milk, and now and then a little bit of sponge cake 
soaked in sherry wine. 8th. Constipation, — The simple 
and effectual cure for this is, plenty of green food, such as 
lettuce, v/atercress, &c, A piece of sugar candy in the 
water is also good. 9th. Epilepsy, — Birds which have been 
too delicately nurtured, and which are weak from other 
causes, are most subject to fits of dizziness, which causes 
them to fall from their perches, and lie for awhile as dead 
Sometimes these attacks are brouglit on by ovfer exertion or 
H 
