SoiiKi E-xpcricuceii of Coclialoos. 
325 
traded for her, and wluit little she swallowed Avas generally 
vomited again in a few minutes. The diarrhtea from which 
she had been sufTering beeame worse and the running at the 
beak increased. Her temper al; o, prolvably under the influ- 
ence of pain, Ijecame extremely savage and slie rushed at 
everyone who approached her cage and 1>it angrily at the 
wires. Most of her time slie spent in tearing up a large 
piece of soft wood with which we had provided her. The 
end seemea very near. Strange to say, however, after a few 
days, a slight improvement set in and the acuteness of the 
symptoms abated. During the weeks which followed this im- 
provement was maintained, although it was extremely slow. 
Gradually the vomiting became less fresiuent, the diarrha3a 
ceased, Timmie began to put on llesh and lier temper grew 
more amiable. The young lien, who had never shown any 
marked symptoms of illness, also improved greatly in con- 
dition and was soon engaged in a normal and healthy moult. 
By early spring it became evident tliat 'the miraculous had 
happened and tliat the remnant of my ill-fated Hock had been 
saved when in the very last stage of what is generally re- 
garded as one of the most hopeless and intractable of all bii'd 
ailments. Then it was that the sad conviction forced itself 
upon me that if I had only learned the value of oak-apple 
gi'ubs a few months sooner my beloved Teddy would have been 
saved. His illness was in reality far less serious in character 
than that of the hen, and all he had needed was some stimulus 
to arouse his appetite. 
\Mien summer arrived I put Timmie and her compan- 
ion out-of-doors in cages, and they soon began to testify to 
the completeness of their cure by tiie excellence of their spirits 
and the outbursts of excited screaming in which they some- 
times indulged when the call of a Rook, uttered with a peculiar 
intonation, reminded them of the distant cry of one of their 
own kind. The young hen began to lose her shyness, and 
although she did not like one to put one's hand quite close to 
her, she showed great pleasure if one stood a little distance 
away and talked to her, throwing up her credit, spreading her 
tail, swinging her head about, and even bringing up food from 
her crop . Banksians are strange birds, there is nothing quite 
like them 1 
