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Our  Canaries 
The  whole  case  was  well  summarised  in  a  letter  written  to  us  a  few  years  ago 
by  a  medical  friend  who  has  carried  out  a  large  amount  of  research  work  in  the 
realm  of  bird  ailments.  "  Unfortunately,"  he  wrote,  "  so  little  has  been  really 
worked  out  about  bird  diseases  that  one  is  very  much  in  the  dark,  and  reduced  to 
trying  to  explain  the  post-mortem  appearances  as  well  as  one  can  by  their  analogy 
to  human  diseases — a  very  unsatisfactory  method,  for  it  leaves  out  all  consider- 
ation of  various  special  disorders  which  in  all  probability  attack  birds,  but  of 
which  we  know  nothing,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  assume  that  such  diseases  have 
special  features  and  histories  distinct  from  those  which  occur  in  human  beings." 
POINTS  WHEREIN  BIRDS  DIFFER  FROM  MAN. 
The  probability  of  some  conditions  being  peculiar  to  birds  is  raised  to  a 
practical  certainty  when  we  consider  how  widely  birds  vary  in  other  vital  points 
from  ourselves.  The  normal  temperature  of  their  bodies — io8°  to  iio° — for  in- 
stance, is  roughly  from  io°  to  12°  higher  than  that  of  man.  Another  important 
distinction  is  in  the  quantity  of  fluid  consumed,  which  is  probably  in  proportion 
to  their  weight  at  least  three  times  as  much  as  man.  We  were  induced  to  make  an 
experiment  on  the  subject  by  an  incident  which  occurred  at  a  meeting  of  a 
defunct  Cage  Bird  Club  when  Dr.  R.  H.  Clarke  gave  his  lecture  on  the  subject  of 
Septic  Fever.  Our  old  friend,  the  late  Mr.  E.  P.  S.  Elfick,  had  expressed  the 
opinion,  based,  as  he  afterwards  informed  us,  upon  casual  observation,  that  a 
Canary  consumed  about  twelve  drops  of  water  a  day,  and  as  this  quantity,  by  a 
curious  coincidence,  worked  out  very  closely  with  the  average  consumption  of 
a  human  being  in  proportion  to  weight,  it  was  taken  as  a  working  base.  Being  con- 
vinced the  bird's  consumption  was  much  understated,  we  made  an  experiment 
extending  over  twelve  days  with  a  tame  Greenfinch  which  would  eat  or  drink  from 
the  hand.  This  bird  was  kept  in  a  small  cage,  but  allowed  to  fly  about  the  room 
for  an  hour  each  day.  An  unlimited  diet  of  canary,  with  a  little  summer  and 
winter  rape,  linseed,  and  millet,  was  provided,  and  on  two  days  a  little  hemp  was 
given.  No  water  was  given  in  cage,  but  a  supply  was  offered  from  4  to  6  times  a 
day  in  a  small  vessel  from  which  it  drank  as  much  as  it  pleased  each  time. 
During  the  twelve  days  it  drank  254  times,  or  a  fraction  over  21  times  a  day. 
Assuming  that  one  drop  and  a  half  of  fluid  was  consumed  at  each  drink,  and  this 
is  probably  under-rating  the  quantity,  it  gives  an  average  consumption  of  over  30 
drops  a  day. 
ANALYSIS   OF   THE  TEST. 
It  is  interesting  to  examine  the  detailed  analysis  of  this  experiment,  and 
especially  to  note  the  high  rate  of  consumption  on  the  two  days,  marked  with  an 
asterisk,  when  hemp  was  added  to  the  diet,  and  on  one  of  the  following  days.  In 
any  experiment  of  this  kind  the  nature  of  the  food  is,  of  course,  an  important  con- 
sideration. 
