Correspondence



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the nest on 24th August, a fine healthy bird. This baby was peeking

and almost feeding itself the following day, and now it is a fine strong

bird.


The amazing part is that the germ in the egg from so small a bird

could retain its vitality and hatch after being kept so long, more

especially as the weather was very warm at this period. The first

point is, had these eggs been previously sat on, considering the cock

bird left the nest each time the aviary was passed, which goes to show

that incubation had probably commenced before the hen went sick,

and secondly the fifth egg was discovered upon removing the hat

later on, which is the complement of eggs that my Parrot Finches have

always laid. This would point to the fact that incubation had probably

commenced.


Motto : Don't always destroy eggs should an accident happen.


P. W. Teague.



GAPES AND ITS TREATMENT


I have been much interested to see the good results obtained by

Mr. Ezra in using “ Kur-ide ” as a cure for gapes in his Starlings. For

years I had the same trouble at Cleres, loosing practically all the young

Starlings of different species a few days after they left the nest, so

much so that I have long given up their breeding. Also adult Spreos

and Royal Starlings often succumbed to the disease.


This year we have been free from the kind of gape-worms that

affect game birds and passerine birds, but we had, as usual, some

cases of the Waterfowl gapes, which are caused by a different worm,

although nearly allied species, young Geese, Sheld-ducks, and Tree-

ducks being affected. We tried on them the treatment recommended

some years ago for small birds by Dr. C. Arnault in VOiseau , that is

to say that we injected into the wind-pipes of the birds a small quantity

of “ Aniodol interne ”, a strong disinfectant extracted from garlic,

which can be purchased from any French chemist’s. For small birds,

a medical syringe with a special smooth-ended needle must be used,

and it is not at all easy to manage, but with Waterfowl and game



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