TRAINING, FOOD, AND DISEASES. 
39 
previous day’s supply must be allowed to remain in the food-pot. It will 
indeed be as well, especially during the summer months, to scald out the 
food-vessel each day, and wipe it thoroughly dry. Looseness of the bowels 
is the commonest and most dangerous ill that parrot flesh is heir to, and 
nothing causes it sooner than sour food. By the by, avoid zinc food-ves¬ 
sels,—they are poisonous. 
Another of the diseases to which parrots are subject, is asthma. This 
either arises from an undue allowance of heating food, or through cold. This 
last is a matter that requires special mention. A choice exotic bird should 
be carefully placed in the sunniest nook, and scrupulously screene'd from 
cold draughts; but these unfortunate natives of the hottest countries in the 
world are too often left hanging before open windows on chill autumn 
nights. 
The symptoms of asthma are shortness of breath and a frequent disposi¬ 
tion of the bird to gape. If the attack is but slight, it may be cured by al¬ 
tering the diet, taking care that a good portion of his food is of a moist and 
warm character. If the bird is very ill, make a stiff paste of boiling milk 
and wheat flour, and add to every table-spoonful half a dozen grains of 
cayenne pepper. Give him nothing else for at least three days. 
Insufficient attention as regards cleanliness will induce bad feet. The 
bird’s perch should be movable, aud scraped and scalded at least once a 
week. The feet should be frequently cleansed with a piece of flannel and 
Windsor soap. A covered perch may be substituted for the bare one until 
the bird’s feet heal. They are subject to a disease which seems much the 
same sort of thing as gout with us. The legs and feet swell, and the bird 
is unable to grasp its perch properly. Like gout, it is very difficult to cure, 
and the best remedy we know of is to place the bird in a smaller cage, and 
stand him up to the thighs in water,—two parts boiling and one part cold. 
Let him remain in this warm bath fifteen minutes, then take him out, dry 
his feet before the fire j do this daily. If he has sores on his feet, apply to 
them a little loaf sugar. 
Scouring is caused either by a sudden change of diet or through taking 
sour fruit, or some other improper food. The symptoms are a drooping tail, 
a tenacious white excrement adhering to the feathers beneath the tail, and 
a general uneasiness exhibited by the bird. The hinder parts, which will 
be found to be much inflamed, should be anointed with palm-oil; rice-biscuit, 
crumbled with the yolk of hard-boiled eggs, may be given with advantage; 
also boiled Indian corn, with which a chilly has been cut up. 
Diseased eyes may proceed from cold or improper food. When you see 
the rims red and inflamed, bathe them with a warm decoction of white 
hellebore. It is deadly poison, so be careful that the bird does not drink it. 
Consumption is a disease by no means uncommon with birds of the parrot 
tribe. The symptoms indicative of this disease are ruffled plumage, hollow 
eyes, loss of appetite for all sorts of food except green; gouty appearance of 
the lower extremities, and prominence of the breast-bone. Let him havo 
