ON ILLNESSES AND WOUNDS. 
49 
surprised. I would have done the same if 1 had been the bird, 
though I am told that birds will stand a dose of medicine which, if 
given in proportionate quantity to a man, would not only kill him at 
once, but almost make him wonder if he had ever lived. It may be 
so; I don’t know. Personally, 1 should think he would know 
all about it better than those he left behind. 1 should never 
recommend more than one drop of castor oil for any small bird, 
and, unless it was in a very bad way, I should always prefer Epsom 
salts. I have found the former useful in cases of cramp, but the 
latter is certainly safer for enteritis. For the larger birds castor 
oil is often invaluable. 
Asthma is a common disease among birds; it is distressing at 
all times to listen to, and it takes a long time to kill a bird, which 
(as it is a recurrent trouble) is perhaps not an unmixed blessing. 
The temporary remedy for asthma in birds is glycerine, with or 
without an admixture of gum arabic; but the dose must be pro- 
portioned to the size of the bird, as an excessive quantity is fatal ; 
yet we can take glycerine instead of cod liver oil without risk, 
which shows that birds cannot always take larger doses of physio 
than we can. Asthma being a very weakening complaint, as soon 
as the bird’s breathing gets light, a tonic should be given. 
Now, although I am asked frequently for the proper treatment 
for birds suffering from typhoid, liver disease, and other deadly 
maladies, and 1 always do my best to recommend the approved 
remedies, I frankly admit that I never use them myself. I believe 
that for most of the ills to which birds arc liable, a steady, equable, 
warm temperature is the best thing, and if a bird is so diseased 
that warmth will not bring it round, it is better that it should die. 
In February, 1902, one of my Weaver birds went wrong in its 
moult, became too weak to fly, and had to be transferred to a 
cage ; for a day or two it seemed better, then rapidly grew worse, 
until one morning I found it lying on its back with its feet turned 
back, its eyes shut, its head moving slowly from side to side. If 
I had left that bird as it was, half an hour would have seen the 
end of it. I got a travelling-cage (the sort with a wire door which 
slides up and down), put in seed and a little pot of water, placed 
the bird inside, and stood the cage on the radiator in my conser- 
vatory. In an hour that bird was on a perch and able to feed. 
After a week I turned him out, and he flew about recklessly. I 
returned him to his cage, and replaced it on the radiator ; though 
still rather weak, the bird got successfully through his moult. 
Nevertheless, he died a few weeks later. 
Warmth (as previously stated) is the best and safest remedy 
for egg-binding, and if a drop of olive oil is inserted into the vent 
with a cam el’s -hail' pencil before the bird is placed in the warm 
cage, the cure is tolerably certain, through the trouble is likely to 
recur if you permit the patient to go on breeding. 
The best thing for wounds and sores is vaseline ; fractures in 
legs, if simple, may be put right with splints made of split quills 
D 
