322 
Soma Kxperioicca of Coclatoos. 
Some Experiences of Cockatoos. 
Bv Thio Mahqvis of Tavistock. 
(Concluded from page 291.) 
Worse was to follow: not long afterwards, I returned 
home after a short absence, to be met with the bad news that 
Teddy was ill and had been taken in. I at first feared that 
he might be suffering from the same malady as the hen T had 
just lost, but I changed my mind on finding that he was in 
good condition, and quite plump. The night before liis illness 
had been cold and foggy, and as he Svas moulting a little at the 
time, I have little doubt that he had 'conti-acted a chill. As he 
always appeared cramped and worried in a cage to which 
he had never been accustomed, I gave him his liberty in a 
large room heated by a stove to the temperature of 65 deg. 
(Had it been 85 deg. I should probably have saved him, but, 
alas! I did not then know the value of great heat for ailing 
birds). He did not really seem very bad, for although he spent 
a great deal of time with his head under his wing, he became 
quite lively in the evenings and early mornings, walking a- 
bout and calling loudly. On one occasion I actually saw him 
stretch his wing a little— a sure sign that a Idrd is far 
from being in extremisl Unluckily, however, his appetite had 
Completely deserted him, and the food we gave him was drop- 
ped untasted. We tried him with everything we could think 
of— mealworms, gentles, nuts of all kinds, sponge-cake, and 
bread flavoured with aniseed, bread and milk and even meat 
and butter— all without avail. His endurance was marvellous, 
for at the end of four days, though thin, he was not outwardly 
much the worse for his fast. On the fifth day, however, he 
began to weaken rai>idly and could only fly a short distance 
aiui or. the sixth day he was very Tar gone indeed, and crawled 
away into a corner behind the stove. In desperation and as 
a last resource I tried forcible feeding with sponge cake and 
port wine. fTeddy much resented the indignity of being handled 
but I believe he knew we meant well, for he would always 
come out when we called him and climb "Weakly on to our arms 
and when we caught hold of him he never screamed and made 
little attempt to bite. But it was no use. Of all large birds 
a Parrot is quite the most helpless to try and cram on account 
of the small size of its gullet and the immense power of its 
