Wing Disease. 
9i 
parts. The bird in this case will have to be hand-fed while the wound is healing, using soaked 
beans and peas, and rolling them in gravel before giving, to assist digestion. Pills made of boiled 
rice and bread, similarly rolled in gravel, are also excellent food for birds in this or any other 
diseased state which requires hand-feeding, as is also a drink of good milk. We should also 
advise the whole inside of the loft, wherever this disease occurs, to be well sprinkled with Condy’s 
Fluid, to prevent infection spreading, which it is otherwise very likely to do. Bad as it is, however, 
and virulently infectious, it is singular that, so far as our experience goes, small-pox is not 
hereditary like the other forms of canker. 
We next have to consider what is so well known as “ zving disease." The original cause of 
this has been a puzzle both to us and many others. From its sometimes appearing suddenly in 
what have previously seemed most healthy birds, we have thought that, at least sometimes , it may be 
caused either by fighting, or by striking the wings against some obstruction. It does appear that 
in lofts where sharp obstructions abound the disease is more frequent than in others ; but many 
cases appear to arise from constitutional causes, and to be of a scrofulous character. It appears 
in the form of a soft lump or tumour, usually on the shoulder-joint of the wing, which, if it be 
opened, is found to consist of matter of a cheesy consistence. If treated at an early stage it can 
generally be cured, as follows : — Strip off a few feathers round the place, and by means of the 
ordinary glass, get a leech to fasten on the part. As soon as the leech drops off, the place is to 
be held under a cold-water tap for at least five minutes, after which a piece of soft string or tape 
should be tied round the shoulder close to the root, and then crossed round the outer flights, so as 
to form a sling, and keep the wing from getting into a hanging position. This is especially 
necessary, for if it be neglected, even though a cure be effected, the wing often remains useless, and 
the bird is then useless both for show or breeding ; while a sling prevents this, and if all goes well 
with the cure, preserves both the use and carriage so well that the effect of the disease can hardly be 
detected. The place should be held five minutes under the tap every morning for at least a week, 
and afterwards touched with citron ointment, which will usually make a good cure. 
Another very good mode of treatment for wing disease is to paint the place every day with 
the strongest spirits of turpentine, using a camel-hair brush. This is to be continued until the 
swelling has disappeared. Some lance the tumour, but this we have hardly ever known to 
produce any good effect, and even if it does, the bird can never fly, and the wound can always be 
seen. In all cases the bird should be confined, since attempts at flight only irritate the part, and 
make recovery longer than it would otherwise be. Wing disease should always be treated as soon 
as it is clearly apparent, for when of long standing it seldom can be cured. We may add that it 
generally, but not always, prevents either sex from breeding till the cure is effected. 
A somewhat similar disease is known as gout in the legs, but is chiefly to be found in birds of 
mature age. It is also as a rule, amongst even these, confined to birds bred late or of weakly 
stock. The symptoms are swelling of the legs about the joint ; and a flannel bandage soaked in 
spirits of turpentine, and renewed every day, will often cure if applied early ; but later on, when 
the swelling has developed into hard excrescences like warts, we believe there is no cure. This 
disease we believe to be hereditary. 
Other diseases, to which the Carrier is not especially liable, will be found treated of elsewhere. 
JUDGING CARRIERS. — We have already hinted briefly at the inconsistencies in judging 
which are so frequent in this variety of pigeon. We say in this breed ; because while in pigeons 
generally the judging is by no means so uniform as at most good poultry shows, it is in the 
Carrier especially that decisions, flatly contradictory, at times provoke a fancier almost past 
