INTRODUCTION. 
19 
a speedy death is the general consequence. If this do not 
happen, the breathing is not the less difficult and painful; 
and recovery is rare, at least without the greatest care and 
attention. 
Birds that eat insects and worms, occasionally, by acci¬ 
dent, swallow some extraneous substance, which, sticking in 
their throat, stops their respiration and stifles them. The only 
remedy is to extract the foreign body, which requires much 
skill and dexterity. 
When asthma is brought on by eating seeds, which are too 
old, spoiled, or rancid, Dr. Handel recommends some drops of 
oxymel, (honey and vinegar boiled to a syrup,) to be swallowed 
for eight days following. But the best way is to change the 
seed, and be sure there is none but good seed in the feeding 
trough. 
Atrophy, or Wasting.— This is caused by giving unnatural 
food to the bird, which destroys the digestive power of its 
stomach. In this case, it disgorges its food, ruffles its feathers, 
and does not arrange * them, and becomes thin very fast. The 
best thing is to make it swallow a common spider, which 
purges it, and put a rusty nail into its water, which strengthens 
the tone of the stomach, giving it at the same time its proper 
and natural food. Green food, such as lettuce, endive, chick- 
weed, and particularly water cresses, is the safest remedy. A 
very great appetite is a sign of this disease. A Siskin, men¬ 
tioned by Dr. Bechstein, that was dying of atrophy, had nothing 
but water cresses for three days following, and on the fourth 
he sung. 
Consumption.— This is usually the result of unnatural food, 
which interrupts the function of digestion, and it is recognised 
by the bird inflating and distending itself. The feathers are 
ruffled, and the flesh dwindles. No better remedy, perhaps, 
can be found than to give such birds a common spider, which 
purges them, and to lay in their water a rusty nail, which 
strengthens the stomach. They must, at the same time, be fed 
with the best description of their appropriate food. In birds 
1 which will eat vegetables, and especially water cresses, this 
