Correspondence



87



different to the eye disease which attacks the members of the Grass

Parrakeet family, also to a lesser extent others, particularly the

Polyteline Parrakeets—and is a form of conjunctivitis, and usually

fatal.


Incidentally, it would be interesting to know whether the latter is

the same as the eye complaint from which Dr. Hamilton found wild-

caught Many-colours suffering in Australia though, from his descrip¬

tion, it sounds not unlike Catarrhal Fever, in which the eyelids rapidly

become so swollen and inflamed as to render the bird temporarily

blind.


For a description of the eye disease I mentioned in my article on

Blue-wings, I cannot do better than refer Mr. Hastings to page 46 of

Lord Tavistock’s book Parrots and Parrot-liJce Birds, where he will

find a complete account of the symptoms of Contagious Conjunctivitis,

as it affects Parrakeets, particularly of the Neophema group.


The account is too long to quote in full, but in it Lord Tavistock

says : “ Eye disease may make its first appearance either in an acute

or in a chronic form. In the former case the area round one or both

eyes suddenly swells up enormously so that the eyes themselves

become almost closed, the bird may linger for several weeks or even

months, but finally succumbs either from general debility or through

the formation of an abscess pressing on the brain.”


“ In the chronic form of the disease nothing may be noticed for six

or seven months beyond a very slight tendency to close the eye partially

or blink a little more frequently than normally. The bird’s general

health and appetite remain good and it may even show signs of playful¬

ness. Gradually, however, the symptoms become more marked, and

the disease slowly assumes an acute form ...” After that, it would

seem, the bird’s fate is usually sealed.


Edward J. Boose y.



A BI-COLOURED BUDGERIGAR


I think you will be interested in a description of a wonderful Freak

Budgie that I now have in my possession. The bird is a typical Sky-

Blue on the whole of one side and a typical Green on the other.



