A parrot, say, has flown upon a hot iron plate, or is scorched at the door of a stove. Such injuries should be treated as in mankind, with a liniment made of linseed oil and lime water (58) or Goulard's extract (56); in less severe cases with collodion (9), and covered with a thick dressing of wadding to exclude the air, and to prevent the parrot from licking off the poisonous remedy.

Fractures of the Bones of birds, also, heal with surprising quickness. A simple fracture of the leg above the ankle, which often occurs in parrots, merely requires rest in order to heal perfectly, so that the foot will not be in the least crooked. It is better, of course, to get both ends of the bone into the right position by carefully drawing and pulling them; then to put on them two little smooth pieces of wood (splints), to bind these pretty firmly with a thick, soft, woollen thread, and to smear thickly and evenly over it plaster of Paris, or thick, warm, but on no account hot (joiner's) glue. Hold the bird fast till the glue is hardened, and then put it in a small cage. In about four weeks the bandage may be carefully removed by means of softening with water. If the fracture is in the wing, the feathers must of course be cut away first, not pulled, to avoid pain and irritation. Zurn advises that the place be bound with a woollen bandage, and above this a linen bandage dipped in a solution of water glass or soluble glass, and then sprinkled with common lime. This bandage is said to have the advantage of keeping firm and being easily cut off. For splints, Zurn recommends strips of pasteboard, or, better still, thin Norwegian pine splints.

Abscesses, besides being due to internal diseases, as already mentioned, frequently form from external causes in parrots, as well as in all large birds. First of all it is necessary to examine whether the swelling is hard, inflamed, and hot, or already yellow and soft, and then treat accordingly. Hard swellings should be softened by warm poultices containing some fat; very inflamed swellings should be cooled with Goulard's water (11), and then softened with warm, often-renewed, poultices. A ripe abscess can usually be emptied without danger, with one cutting, and, after being pressed out, it should be covered with a so-called Hamburgh plaster (26); or bound up with bandages dipped in carbolic acid oil (41). The worst disorder for a parrot is an encysted tumour, which forms most frequently in the head, near the beak or eye. It is neither hard nor soft; it is filled with a membranous matter, and becomes very large or works deeper, in any case causing the bird discomfort and pain. As long as it is small or lies loose in the skin, it may be taken off by burning with caustic; a better way is to tie it round tightly with a thin but very firm thread. Encysted tumours, however, are mostly produced by internal disorders of the juices of the body, and local operations, taken singly, cannot be of much use, as fresh tumours continually arise. The parrot usually dies unless it can be restored by the strictest avoidance of all unnatural food, such as meat, fat, cake, potato, etc. Administering a solution of salicylic acid (73) is sometimes of good service. Dreadful boils, filled with blood in the shape of lumps, sometimes form under the wings of newly-imported parrots which have been badly cared for on the voyage. Concerning these, I beg to refer the reader to the treatment for "Blood-poisoning."