90 
BIRD-LIFE. 
position that some epidemic had been raging amongst 
them. Faber often saw Gannets lying dead in heaps 
on the coast of Iceland; and Guillemots floating along 
shore evidently dying. I, myself, in the neighbour¬ 
hood of Suez, came across a small grove of palm 
trees, the ground under which was strewed with the 
corpses of the common Rook {G. frug elms), the place 
looking like a veritable cemetery. Possibly, the principal 
cause of such diseases among birds, in their wild state, 
is improper or insufficient nourishment. The feathered 
inhabitants of the farmyard are also subject to diseases, 
apparently epidemic in their character. Peteny, the 
amateur bird-fancier, who died not long since, gives an 
example of the case in question. On the estate of 
Cziekata, in Hungary, a violent attack of vomiting and 
diarrhoea destroyed in the space of four days no less than 
80 Pigeons, 12 Geese, 40 Ducks, 18 Turkeys, 8 Guinea- 
fowl, 270 Hens, 70 Capons; in.all 493 victims. Even 
the caged birds of the place, Quails, Larks, and other 
pets, did not escape the universal devastation; Hens 
died in the act of laying, Pigeons were found dead in 
their nests. The diseases most common among cage 
birds are as follows :—apoplexy, roup, epilepsy, cramp, 
paralysis of the limbs, eruptions, haemorrhage, and 
blindness. 
The first symptoms of illness in a bird are silence and 
a desire to hide itself from view. Aquatic birds, which 
spend their whole lives on the water, make for the land as 
soon as illness attacks them, and ascending the beach 
with difficulty, lie down and die near the spot where they 
first saw light. Faber says it is a sure sign of sickness 
when the Eider Duck, Guillemot and Diver approach 
the shore, and even when driven back still seek to reach 
