Feathered Surgeons.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 139, 13 June 1891, Page 3 (Supplement)

Feathered Surgeons.

Some interesting observations relating to the surgical treatment of wounds by birds were recently brought by M. Fatio before the Physical Society of Geneva. He quotes the case of the snipe, which he has often observed engaged in repairing damages. With ibs beak and feabhers ib makes a very credibable dressing, applying plasbers bo bleeding wounds, and even securing a broken limb by means of a sboub ligabure. On one occasion he killed a snipe, which had on the chest a large dressing composed of down taken from other parts of the body and securely fixed to the wound by bhe coagulated blood. Twice he has broughb home snipe wibh interwoven feathers strapped on to the site of fracbure of one or other limb. The most interesting example was that of a snipe, both of whose legs he had unfortunately broken, by a misdirected shot. He recovered the animal only on the day following, and he then found that the poor bird had contrived to apply dressings and a sorb of splinb bo bobh limbs. In carrying oub bhis operabion, some feabhers had become entangled around the beak, and, nob being able to use its claws to get rid of them, it was almost dead from hunger when discovered. In a case recorded by M. Magnin, a snipe which was observed to fly away wibh a broken leg was subsequenbly found bo have forced thefragmenbs inbo a parallel position, bhe upper fragment reaching to the knee, and secured bnem bhere by means of a sbrong band of feabhers and moss inbermingled. The observers were particularly struck by the application of a ligature of a kind of flatleafed grass wound round the limb in a spiral form and fixed by means of a sort of glue.