Our  Canaries 
49 
They  should  be  applied  once  or  twice  a  week  with  a  small  camel  hair  pencil  to 
the  ends  of  the  perches,  joints  of  doors,  and  any  likely  harbour  for  the  pests 
throughout  the  breeding  and  moulting  season.  Do  not  wait  until  there  is  a  host 
of  mites  to  apply  it  to,  but  use  it  regularly  as  a  deterrent  to  prevent  them  gaining 
a  footing.  The  quassia  will  also  be  most  useful  to  add  a  few  drops  to  the  bathing 
water  occasionally,  though  with  red  mite  attacks  treatment  of  the  birds 
themselves  is  of  trifling  effect. 
ERADICATING  LICE. 
If  taken  in  hand  in  time  it  is  a  comparatively  easy  matter  to  deal  with 
the  grey  louse,  but  in  this  case  the  attention  must  be  chiefly  devoted  to  the 
bird.  If  only  slightly  infested  a  few  baths  with  quassia  added  given  regularly 
every  day  for  a  week  or  so  will  have  a  sufficiently  good  eradicating  effect,  and 
no  further  treatment  will  be  necessary  beyond  washing  the  cages  with  a  carbolic 
disinfectant  wash  every  few  days  until  it  is  certain  the  pest  is  quite  removed. 
If  the  birds  refuse  to  bathe,  in  mild  settled  weather  the  solution  may  be  sprayed 
over  them  until  the  plumage  is  well  moistened  all  over,  placing  them  in  a  small 
open  wire  spare  cage  for  the  purpose,  then  place  them  in  a  sunny  bright  position 
to  plume  and  dry  their  feathers.  At  the  same  time  the  bath  may  be  placed 
inside  the  cage,  and  in  many  cases  as  soon  as  the  bird  begins  to  shake  and  preen 
itself  it  will  go  to  the  bath  and  bathe  voluntarily.  In  this  way  some  of  the  most 
inveterate  non-bathers  may  be  induced  to  become  free  and  voluntary  bathers. 
But  do  not  adopt  this  method  with  birds  which  are  sickly  and  weak  and  sensitive 
to  chill,  nor  in  cold,  wet,  chilly  weather.  To  prepare  the  quassia  bath  it  is 
simply  necessary  to  add  thirty  or  forty  drops  of  the  concentrated  essence  of 
quassia  to  each  half-pint  of  water  used  for  the  baths,  or,  as  a  substitute,  boiling 
water  may  be  poured  over  the  finely  broken-up  quassia  chips  the  previous  night, 
and  the  water  poured  off"  into  the  baths  next  day.  The  proportion  of  chips 
should  be  about  one  good  teaspoonful  to  each  pint  of  water. 
MORE  DRASTIC  MEASURES. 
Should  this  treatment  fail  to  be  wholly  successful,  as  may  be  the  case 
when  a  bird  is  very  badly  infested,  the  bird  should  be  caught  and  thoroughly 
dusted  with  freshly  ground  pyrethrum  powder,  blowing  it  liberally  into  the 
base  of  the  plumage,  especially  under  the  wings,  around  the  base  of  neck,  and 
base  of  tail,  by  means  of  a  bellows  distributor  or  powder  puff".  Roll  the  bird 
up  bodily  at  once  in  a  handkerchief,  leaving  only  just  the  beak  free  for  breathing, 
and  lay  it  down  inside  a  spare  cage  with  the  door  closed  (this  to  avoid  any 
possible  accidents)  and  allow  it  to  remain  so  for  fifteen  minutes.  During  this 
interval  the  bird's  usual  cage  may  be  washed  out  as  suggested.  The  bird  may 
then  be  released  and  allowed  to  stay  a  short  time  in  the  spare  cage  to  shake 
itself  free  of  as  much  as  possible  of  the  powder  and  insects.    This  treatment 
