The Natural History of Cage Birds

COSTIVENESS

This disease may be discovered from the frequent unsuccessful endeavours of the bird to relieve itself. Aperients will be of use. If a spider does not produce the desired effect, anoint the vent of the bird with the head of a pin steeped in linseed oil; this sort of clyster generally succeeds; but if the disease attacks a bird which eats meal-worms, one of these, bruised in sweet oil and saffron, is the most certain remedy, and the bird will swallow it without the least hesitation. Boiled bread and milk is generally of great use.

DIARRHŒA

This is a disease to which birds that have been caught recently are very subject, before they are accustomed to their new food. Most of these die of it: they continually void a white calcareous matter, which sticks to the feathers round the vent, and being very acrid causes inflammation in that part and in the intestines. Sometimes chalybeate water and the oil clyster produce good effects; but it is better, if possible, to procure for the bird its most natural food. Some people pull out the feathers from the tail and vent, and then rub these parts with fresh butter, but this is a very painful and cruel operation. They also mix the yolk of an egg boiled very hard with their food, but I have never found this succeed very well. If there be any hope of curing this disease it is by attacking it at the beginning, before inflammation is violent; boiled bread and milk, a great deal of lettuce, or any other similar green refreshing food, in general completely cures them.

In a case of chronic diarrhœa, which almost reduces the birds to skeletons, Dr. Handel prescribes chalybeate water mixed with a little milk for their drink, which, he says, is an easy and certain cure.

THE BLOODY FLUX

This is a disease with which some parrots are attacked. The best remedy is to make the birds drink a great deal of boiled milk, or even very fat broth; for their intestines, which are very much irritated, require something soothing to protect them from the acrid discharges, which, at the same time, must be corrected by healing food. Birds in this state generally do nothing but drink, therefore plenty of boiled milk should be given them, as it nourishes them, as well as acts medicinally, but should it appear to turn sour in the stomach it must, at least for some time, be discontinued.

OBSTRUCTION IN THE RUMP GLAND

This gland, which is on the rump, and contains the oil necessary for anointing the feathers, sometimes becomes hard and inflamed, and an abscess forms there. In this case the bird often pierces it itself, or it may be softened by applying fresh butter without any salt; but it is better to use an ointment made of white lead, litharge, wax, and olive oil, which may be had at any good chemist’s. The general method is to pierce or cut the hardened gland, in order to let out the matter, but if this operation removes the obstruction it also destroys the gland, and the bird will die in the next moulting, for want of oil to soften the feathers[12 - This, though the common opinion, seems incorrect. See Rennie’s “Habits of Birds,” p. 4. – Translator.].

The gland is known to be obstructed when the feathers which surround it are ruffled, the bird never ceasing to peck them, and instead of being yellow it becomes brown. This disease is very rare among wild birds, for, being exposed to damp, and bathing often, they make more use of the liquor in the gland, consequently it does not accumulate sufficiently to become corrupted, sour, or cancerous. This confirms the necessity of giving them the means of bathing as often as instinct would induce them, as nothing can be more favourable to their health.

Dr. Handel, after piercing the gland, recommends a little magnesia to be mixed with the bird’s drink.

EPILEPSY

This is a disease with which house birds are very often attacked. What I have found to be most useful in this case is to plunge the sick birds every now and then into very cold water, letting them fall suddenly into it, and cutting their claws, or at least one or two, short enough for the blood to run.

From bleeding giving so much relief one would think that this disease is a kind of apoplexy, occasioned by want of exercise and too much food. Bullfinches and thrushes are more subject to it than any other birds, and bleeding always cures them. I have seen this done with great success in the following manner, but much delicacy and skill are required, as there would be great danger of laming the bird: – a very small hole is made on the surface of the claw, with a lancet or very sharp penknife; it is then plunged in lukewarm water, and if the operation be well done the blood runs like a thread of red silk; when removed from the water the bleeding stops: no bandage or dressing is required.

TYMPANY

In this disorder the skin on one part of the body, or even the whole body, rises and swells to so great a degree that it is stretched like a drum. It is generally sufficient to pierce it with a pin, so as to let the air escape, and the bird will be cured. I had some larks attacked with this disease, which began again to sing a quarter of an hour after the operation.

DISEASE IN THE FEET

House birds are often subject to bad feet. From the second year they become pale, and lose their freshness. They must be frequently cleaned, taking care to remove the skin; the thick loose scales ought also to be taken off, but with all possible precaution.

The gout occasions the feet to swell, they are also so scaly and painful that the poor little bird cannot support itself without resting on the points of its wings. Dr. Handel prescribes a warm fomentation with a decoction of soapwort. If a foot should be bruised or broken, he advises that the diseased bird should be shut up in a very small cage, the bottom of which is very smooth and even, without any perches, or anything which would tempt them to hop, and put in a very quiet and solitary place, out of the way of anything which might produce agitation. In this manner the bird will cure itself in a little time, without any bandage or plaster of any kind.

I am persuaded that the principal cause of bad feet is want of bathing. The scales, contracting from dryness, occasion great pain; in order to remove them with ease, and without danger, the feet must be softened in lukewarm water. I have seen the following method used with a bullfinch: – its cage was made with a moveable tin bottom, which being half or three quarters of an inch deep, could hold water, which was put in tepid, to bathe the bird; the perches were then removed, so that the bird was obliged to remain in the water, where it was left for half an hour, sometimes throwing it hemp-seed to amuse it. After repeating the bath once or twice the bird became very fond of it; and it was remarked that its feet became, if we may say so, quite young again. The scales being sufficiently softened, the middle of each was cut lengthways without reaching the flesh, this made the sides easily fall off. It is better to remove only two scales a-day, that the bird may not be wearied. By continuing the bath three times a week the feet become healthy and supple, and the bird is easy.

SORE EYES

The juice of red-beet for drink, and also as a liniment, greatly relieves this disorder. Dr. Handel recommends washing the eyes, when disposed to blindness, with an infusion of the root of white hellebore.

TUMOURS AND ULCERS

As to the tumours and ulcers which come on the heads of the birds, Dr. Handel touches them with a middling-sized red hot knitting-needle. This makes the watery humour run out, the wound afterwards dries and heals. To soften the pain a little liquid black soap is used. If, from the softness of the tumour, matter seems to have formed, it should be rubbed with fresh butter until it is come to a head; it may then be emptied, and opened by a few drops of essence of myrrh. During all this time the bird must have nothing but beet juice to drink.

Ulcers in the palate and throat may be cured by making the bird drink the milk of almonds for several days, at the same time lightly touching the ulcers several times a-day with a feather dipped in a mixture of honey and borax.

MOULTING

Though natural, is generally accompanied with disease, during which the birds ought to be taken great care of. Their food should be changed, but without giving any heating delicacies, which are very injurious.

It has been observed that birds always moult at the time when their food is most abundant; the forest birds may then be seen approaching fields and cultivated places, where, having plenty of insects and seeds, they cannot suffer from want; indeed, the loss of their feathers prevents their taking long flights, and the reproduction of them occasions a loss of flesh which must be repaired. An abundance of food is therefore necessary, and, following this rule, during moulting some additional food must be given to house birds, appropriate to the different species – millet or canary seed, a little hemp-seed, white bread soaked in water, and lettuce, or endive, to those which feed on seeds; with a few more meal worms and ants’ eggs to those that eat insects: all should have bread soaked in boiled milk, warmth, and baths. Nothing has succeeded better than this regimen: all the birds which I have seen treated in this manner have passed their moulting season in good health.

GIDDINESS

This, without being properly a disease, is rather common, and is occasioned by the trick which the birds of the first class have, of turning their head and neck so far round that they fall head over heels. They may be easily cured of this trick by throwing a covering over the top of the cage, which prevents their seeing anything above them, for it is with looking up that this giddiness comes on.

PAIRING FEVER

A disease which may be called the pairing fever must not be forgotten here. House birds are usually attacked with it in May, a time when the inclination to pair is greatest. They cease to sing, become sorrowful and thin, ruffle their feathers, and die. This fever generally first seizes those which are confined in cages: it appears to arise from their way of life, which is too uniform and wearying. I cured several by merely placing them in the window, where they are soon so much refreshed that they forget their grief, their desire for liberty or for pairing, and resume their liveliness and song.

I have observed that a single female in the room is sufficient to cause this disease to all the males of the same family, though of different species. Removing the female will cure them directly. The males and females at this season must be separated, so that they cannot see or hear one another. This perhaps is the reason that a male, when put in the window, is soon cured.

AGE OF TAME BIRDS

The length of a bird’s life very much depends on the care which is taken of it. There are some parrots which have lived more than a century; and nightingales, chaffinches, and goldfinches have been known to live more than twenty-four years in a cage. The age of house birds is so much the more interesting, as it is only by observing it that we can know with any degree of certainty the length of birds’ lives in general. Thus house birds are of importance to the naturalist, as giving him information which he could not otherwise acquire. It is worthy of remark, that the quick growth of birds does not prevent their living much longer than quadrupeds. The length of life with these is estimated to be six or seven times longer than the time which they take to grow: while birds live fifteen, twenty, and even thirty times longer.

This length of life is sometimes attributed to the substance of which the bones are composed being much more loose and light, and consequently remaining porous longer than those of quadrupeds. Some swans have lived three hundred years.

BIRD CATCHING

We are furnished with house birds by the bird catchers and bird sellers; the latter procure foreign birds, and teach them, the former the indigenous ones. A good bird catcher ought to know not only the different modes of taking birds, but also all the calls for attracting the different species and sexes: the call notes vary very much among house birds, according to their passions and wants; thus the common chaffinch, when calling its companions, often repeats iack, iack; when expressing joy, fink, fink, which it also does when angry, though louder and more quickly; whilst its cry of sorrow is treef, treef.

The science of bird catching consists in studying these different languages well, and it will ensure success.

As each species of bird requires a different mode, I shall mention the various methods in the course of the work, and shall here only speak of bird catching in general. The first thing to know is the proper time to take birds. For birds of passage, impelled by cold and want of food to change their climate, nets should be spread in spring and autumn; erratic birds, which change their place merely in search of food, may be taken, some in winter, some in spring, and others in autumn; those birds which never quit their native place may be taken at any season, but more easily in winter, when they assemble in small flocks.

Autumn is the time for taking birds in nets; some, attracted by a call-bird, or by food, come of their own accord into the trap; others, as the different species of larks, must be driven to the net; but spring is the best season for employing the decoy, or call-birds, concealed in cages, and also for catching the northern birds on their return from the southern countries to their own. It is the best time for observing the different sexes of these birds, for the males always arrive some days, or even a whole week, sooner than the females; hence it happens that at first the bird catchers take only the former, while the latter are caught afterwards. March and April are the best months for this sport, which should always be made in the morning from the break of day till nine o’clock, as afterwards the birds are too much engaged seeking their food to listen to the call of the decoy birds.

As most of the house birds of the first class, are caught in the net, I shall describe the simple manner in which it is done in Thuringia. Some rather strong branches of oak and beech are chosen with their leaves on; about the space of a foot is cleared of leaves, a foot and a half from the top of the branches, and in this space notches are made for fixing lime twigs: the bush, when thus prepared, must be placed on an eminence in the most frequented part of the birds’ path, for birds of passage have fixed roads which they always follow, and in which numbers may be seen, whilst about four hundred paces distant not one can be met with. These tracks generally follow the mountains which border on valleys. It is on these mountains then that the decoy bush must be placed; it must then be garnished with lime twigs, placed in an inclined position, and beneath on the ground must be put the decoy birds, covering their cages with branches of fir or any other tree, so that the birds cannot see one another, as that would prevent the birds of passage from stopping, and the others from calling.

Decoy birds taken wild are preferred to those reared from the nest, for these never know the call note well, or at least do not repeat it often enough.

One of the best modes of catching is by what is called the water-trap; all kinds of birds may be caught by it, and there is always a choice. This sport is very agreeable in the hot summer days, for you have only to sit quietly under the thick shade of the foliage by the side of a running stream. A net of three, four, or six feet long, and three or four wide, according to the size of the place, must be spread over a trench made on purpose to receive the water. Some sticks of about an inch thick must be put into the trench level with the water, to which hoops are fixed to prevent the net from getting wet by falling into the water; the rest of this little canal must be covered with branches. If the place be well chosen it will be surrounded during the day with numbers of different birds. This sport may be carried on from the 24th of July till October, from the rising to the setting of the sun.

When the water-trap can be set near a forest, in a grove of pines and firs, near quickset hedges and gardens, or in the middle of a meadow, wood or field-birds may be caught at the same time. For the sake of convenience, small cages are made which can be folded up and put into the pocket. They only serve, however, for the tamest kinds of birds, such as goldfinches, siskins, and linnets; those which are very wild and violent, as chaffinches and larks, should be put into a small bag made of linen, the bottom of which must be lined with felt. When brought to the house the violent species must be immediately put into a dark place, and their cages covered with branches or anything else, that they may not injure themselves, or spoil their plumage. A little attention to the birds’ actions in such cases will point out what is best to be done, for amongst birds of the same species there is nothing regular in this respect.

BIRDS OF PREY

Birds of prey are so called from feeding only on animals: they have a hooked beak, strong feet, and very sharp claws.

Some birds of this group are used in falconry, so called because several species of falcon are employed in the sport: others, as the owls, are used to attract small birds to the barn-floor trap, and rooks to the decoy-hut. There seems little probability that bird-fanciers should wish to keep such birds as these in the house. Two species, however, appear to merit distinction, the kestril and the little owl.

THE KESTRIL

Falco Tinnunculus, Linnæus; La Cresserelle, Buffon; Der Thurmfalke, Bechstein