ON CANKER OF THE FEATHERS[704]
This disease, which is called _qārishqa_,[704] is commoner in Persia
than elsewhere. From what I have observed, it arises from taking a
moulting hawk out of the mew too soon, that is, while some of her
feathers are still in blood. The hawk bates, injuring a young quill,
and the blood dries up and putrifies; then the flesh near the root
of the quill gets infected, and soon a tiny kind of maggot, similar
to the “disease of parasites”[705] that sometimes infests man, is
produced, and it eats away the root. The following case, I think,
corroborates my opinion:—
I once had a very fine eyess-goshawk, brought to me from an eyrie in
Mazenderan, just about a month before Autumn. I noticed that one of
the two centre tail-feathers, called the _qāpāq_ feathers, was broken
close to the flesh, too close to admit of “imping.” I thought that as
it was a young bird I might pull out the feather without fear, and
that it would speedily grow again.[706] Accordingly with the utmost
care I neatly removed the stump[707] with pincers. On examining it,
I found some hundreds of minute insects the size of a poppy seed,
wriggling about inside the quill. I examined them under a magnifying
glass; they looked just like lice,[708] but were broader. It struck
me that these were the cause of canker in quill feathers. I closed
the end of the quill and circulated it for inspection amongst all my
sporting friends and acquaintances. These parasites, after attacking
and eating one quill, work their way under the flesh to the next, and
so on. They have the same passion for feathers that white-ants[709]
have for wood. If you examine carefully, with a glass, a feather that
has broken off from a hawk afflicted with this disease, you will find
that it has a dead appearance; it has not the water of life in it: the
marks of erosion will also be apparent. These insects are the cause of
feather-rot, and naught else—but God knows best.
_Treatment_: first give her three doses of manna on alternate days,
but give her no more manna than the quantity mentioned previously.
Then cast her, and pull out the small feathers from round the diseased
spot. If the flesh is black and swollen, it is a sign that the injury
arises from a blow. _Treatment_: apply a leech to the injured spot
and let it suck out the impure blood. Sprinkle salt on the wound, or
apply ice to staunch the bleeding. _Item_: rub the injured spot with
powdered stone or brick till the blood is near flowing; then apply the
fouling of a tobacco-pipe. After this keep her loose in a room. Do
this twice.
If, however, the spot be red, the disease is the second or parasitic
kind. The treatment in both cases is the same, with a difference.
_Treatment_: prick the red spot with a needle and induce a flow of
blood. Mix vinegar and ox-gall, and paint it on the affected spot.
_Item_: take carbonate of soda,[710] blue-stone, sal-ammoniac, “yellow
aloes,”[711] and long pepper,[712] a grain[713] of each, and three
black raisins: pound and mix. Prick the injured spot with a needle,
and wash with strong vinegar. Then apply the powder and she will
recover. This is the practice of the ancient falconers. _Item_: when
the feather falls out, wait till a new one takes its place;[714] then
before the stage has arrived when it will fall out, pluck it out by
force and do this three times. The fourth time let the feather reach
maturity. This, too, is a receipt of the ancient falconers.
FOOTNOTES:
[704] _Par-k͟hura_ or _par-k͟huragī_, P.; _qārishqa_ appears to be the
Turkish name of the disease.
[705] _Daʿ^u ´l-qaml_, _lit._ “disease of lice.” By this term the
author probably refers to some parasite other than the louse, _i.e._,
other than the common louse.
[706] Flight-feathers that are pulled out never grow again;
tail-feathers _sometimes_ do; _vide_ page 177, note 752.
[707] _Būqa._
[708] _Qaml_, Ar.
[709] _Rashmīz_, either white-ant or weevil.
[710] _Būra-yi Armanī_, crude carbonate of soda.
[711] _i.e._, Socotrinæ aloes, which are yellow.
[712] _Dār filfil_, “Piper Longum.”
[713] _Dānak-i_, a pea-grain in weight.
[714] The author seems to have confused “false moult” with
“feather-canker,” but the two diseases are separate. In “false moult”
the hawk casts newly grown feathers, and, as it were, recommences
a second moult before she is out of the first, and so on. This
disease is well known to Indian falconers, but no case has come under
my direct notice. In “feather-canker,” or in one form of it, the
hawk moults well and clean, but when flying to the lure one of its
flight-feathers will make a whirring sound as though not set in the
wing at the proper angle. In a few days this feather will break off
at, or in, the flesh, and there will probably be a trace of blood. One
by one every flight-feather will break off in this manner. In the only
case I have seen, the hawk, a saker, had moulted perfectly and was
apparently in the best of health. The disease attacked both wings and
she lost every one of her flight-feathers.