Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 14.djvu/521

Rh served in the cages of singing birds. That they feed upon the bird is shown by their digestive organs being full of blood. They harbor in the recesses of the cage and the perches, particularly those made of hollow cane, and sally out at night to settle on the sleeping bird.



Scrupulous cleanliness should be exercised to prevent and remove them. Several members of this family are parasitic on cats. One species is found on dead bodies. A case has been cited where one was observed on the brain of a dead soldier, which had just been opened. Although the observer thought that the mite had been domiciled there, and upon the strength of this case the statement is often made that they are sometimes found in the brain, it is probable that the mite was in some way conveyed to the brain after it had been opened.

The Ixodes or true ticks, are known by the tough, leathery skin of their abdomen and legs, their fastening on warm-blooded animals, and sucking their blood, for which they have a special mouth-piece. The body of the female is capable of great distention as she gorges. Their habit is herbivorous at first, for it is from the herbage that they find their way to the creatures on which they fix. They mount to the summit of blades of grass, or tips of leaves, and, holding on by their forelegs only, stretch the other three pairs out so as to fasten on any animal that comes in their way. Once settled, they plunge their proboscides into the skin, and suck the blood until their flat bodies become of a globular form, varying from the size of a number-eight shot to that of a bean. The process of filling is slow, sometimes taking days. Little irritation is felt, but the proboscis is liable to be broken off and remain in the wound, when serious sores are formed. Care should be used in taking them off; a little tobacco-juice will generally make them let go. Dogs after running in the woods often bring home quantities of them, and they may come to be permanently located in the dog-kennels. The common cattle-tick of the West is very annoying to horned cattle. Various troublesome species abound in the