ON FEELING THE PULSE, AND ON THE SIGNS OF HEALTH
My son, though life and death are in the hands of the Creator, still
the physician is for the relief of the sick. Such remedies and
treatments as I have by my own experience proved beneficial, I will
here set down, so that they may remain on record.
Now, you must know that the pulse of birds lies in the second joint of
the wing, and that the heat and the moisture of their temperament is
known by holding the wing and feeling the pulse in it.
Know, that the pulse of a man in perfect health (that is a man in
whom the four humours are balanced, no one humour preponderating over
another), has seventy-five pulsations to the minute. If humidity
preponderate, it beats less; if heat, more. In birds of prey,
however, on account of their natural heat, the pulse beats from 135
to 140.[655] If the bird be fevered, it beats more; but if humidity
preponderate, then less.
The signs of health in a short-winged hawk are these: she should
be bright and ever on the look-out for food, and never mournful nor
moping. The morning casting should be firm. When she mutes, she
should do so quickly, and the mutes should be cast clear away to a
distance:[656] the white of the mutes should be very white, with the
dark portion somewhat firmer. She should drink regularly, and should
bathe. After feeding, the stomach[657] should be quickly filled. When
in the evening you place the hawk on her perch,[658] she should not
sleep in the centre of it, but should move to one side to do so. A
hawk that does all this is in robust health; but if out of sorts these
conditions will not be found in her.
FOOTNOTES:
[654] _Mānda_, “bruised, crushed”; an unusual expression.
[655] Later on, under “Hectic Fever or Phthisis,” the author states
that the pulse of a hawk in health is 120 to 130.