Occasionally a bird's limb will be covered with scales, particularly an
old bird's. The best way to remove them is to moisten the limb with
quite warm milk, and a slight rubbing with the thumb and forefinger
back and forth will cause them to peel off. Care should be taken, how-
ever, not to break the underskin. Swollen and sore limbs are greatly
relieved, and afterwards a permanent cure effected, by bathing the
affected parts with diluted tincture of arnica. It often happens that a
bird's claws grow very long and require cutting. This is a particular
operation. Care should be taken not to cut up into the blood veins,
which can be easily seen by holding the bird's claw in front of a strong
light, and then not cutting within at least a sixteenth of an inch of the
red vein.
There is an impression on the minds of most people that the only
use for cuttlefish is as a bill sharpener, but this is wrong. The cuttle-
fish is a mollusk, caught in the China Sea, and is largely used by all
manufacturers of tooth powder, its salty particles readily removing the
tartar. All seed-eating birds are fond of this, its salty taste seeming
to give them a relish for iood.
Birds, when proper care is taken of them, are rarely attacked with
disease. If owners of these pets would first see that the cage is kept
perfectly clean, and well supplied with plenty of gravel or gravel paper
for the bird to peck upon, and that the seed is of the very best quality,
and that they are fed and given a bath at a regular hour, daily, then
birds, if kept from draughts of air, and no sugar, candy, figs, raisins, ou
DISEASES AND THEIR CURE. 11
cake fed them, they will sing from ten to eleven months out of the year.
The poor, German families keep birds for many years, but wealthy
people are apt to kill them with kindness. In cold weather, they should
be kept in a room where the temperature is even, and where the heat is
not over sixty-five or seventy degrees during the day-time, nor below
forty-five or fifty in the night. If no fire is kept up during the night, in
very severe wintry weather a newspaper should be secured over and
around the top and outside of the cage, from bed-time to sunrise, to
keep the bird safely comfortable. At no season of the year should it be
forgotten that they must not be placed in a draught. Asthma or a
sudden cold attacks them often when the cause is not suspected.
In winter time give them all the sunlight you can during the day.
In summer keep them shaded from the direct rays of the sun. In the
frosty season avoid keeping them where it is too hot, in the room
where the cage hangs, or you will find they get easily " stuffed up " and
wheezy in their notes, in consequence of the over-heated air they are
forced to breathe near the ceiling.
DISEASES AND THEIR CURE
Page 15
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Occasionally a bird's limb will be covered with scales, particularly an old bird's. The best way to remove them is to moisten the limb with quite warm milk, and a slight rubbing with the thumb and forefinger back and forth will cause them to peel off. Care should be taken, however, not to break the underskin. Swollen and sore limbs are greatly relieved, and afterwards a permanent cure effected, by bathing the affected parts with diluted tincture of arnica. It often happens that a bird's claws grow very long and require cutting. This is a particular operation. Care should be taken not to cut up into the blood veins, which can be easily seen by holding the bird's claw in front of a strong light, and then not cutting within at least a sixteenth of an inch of the red vein.
There is an impression on the minds of most people that the only use for cuttlefish is as a bill sharpener, but this is wrong. The cuttlefish is a mollusk, caught in the China Sea, and is largely used by all manufacturers of tooth powder, its salty particles readily removing the tartar. All seed-eating birds are fond of this, its salty taste seeming to give them a relish for food.
Birds, when proper care is taken of them, are rarely attacked with disease. If owners of these pets would first see that the cage is kept perfectly clean, and well supplied with plenty of gravel or gravel paper for the bird to peck upon, and that the seed is of the very best quality, and that they are fed and given a bath at a regular hour, daily, then birds, if kept from draughts of air, and no sugar, candy, figs, raisins, out
cake fed them, they will sing from ten to eleven months out of the year. The poor, German families keep birds for many years, but wealthy people are apt to kill them with kindness. In cold weather, they should be kept in a room where the temperature is even, and where the heat is not over sixty-five or seventy degrees during the day-time, nor below forty-five or fifty in the night. If no fire is kept up during the night, in very severe wintry weather a newspaper should be secured over and around the top and outside of the cage, from bed-time to sunrise, to keep the bird safely comfortable. At no season of the year should it be forgotten that they must not be placed in a draught. Asthma or a sudden cold attacks them often when the cause is not suspected.
In winter time give them all the sunlight you can during the day. In summer keep them shaded from the direct rays of the sun. In the frosty season avoid keeping them where it is too hot, in the room where the cage hangs, or you will find they get easily " stuffed up " and wheezy in their notes, in consequence of the over-heated air they are forced to breathe near the ceiling.
DISEASES AND THEIR CURE