俗名八哥
甘平无毒。
发明 鸲鹆目和乳汁滴目,令人目明,能见霄外之物,甚言明目之效耳。肉治噎逆及五
痔止血,并炙熟食之。
甘酸平无毒。形色与画眉鸟相似,但头顶有红毛一片,嘴与爪皆坚锐如铁,故
能啄木取蠹,不可不辨。
发明 啄木性专杀蠹,故治人脏腑积蠹之患。时珍治劳瘵痫痿,皆取制虫之义。烧
灰存性治痔 。虫牙纳孔中不过二三次愈。《丹方》治噎膈,诸药不效,以之熬膏,入麝香
一钱匕,昼夜六时嗅之,膈塞自开。盖膈多有因郁积所致,以其善开木郁之邪也。
即水老鸭
酸咸温微毒。或云咸寒误。
发明 鸬 性寒利水,能治腹大如鼓体寒者,以鸬 烧存性为末,米饮服之。其骨 灰
蜜调绵裹,治鱼骨鲠与白鹭骨同功,嘴骨尤效。鸬 屎多在石上,色紫如花,就石刮取名蜀
水花,能去面上 黑靥痣,灭瘢疵及汤火疮痕。和猪脂敷疔疮。
微寒无毒。
《本经》主伤挞灭瘢。
发明 虎啸则风生于地,鹰扬则风动于天,具体虽殊,机应则一。鹰具雄健之翮不能长
恃无虞,至秋火伏金生,令行改革劲翮渐脱,弱翎未振,即有雄风未遂奋扬,是以众鸟侮之
,《月令》所谓鹰乃祭鸟是也。古圣触物致思,专取鹰之屎白灭伤挞痕。虽取秽恶涤渍,实
取其翮之善脱也。后人推而广之,用以涤除目中宿翳。吹点药中咸取用之。其屎中化未尽之
毛,谓之鹰条,入阴丹、阳丹,不特取其翮之善脱,以治难脱之病。并取其屎中未化之羽
,以消目中未脱之翳,颖脱之妙用崇古未宣,因显示后起,毋失《本经》取用之义。
Commonly known as the myna bird.
Sweet, neutral, non-toxic.
Invention: Mixing the eyes of the Myna Bird (Quyu) with milk and dripping them into the eyes makes one's vision clear, allowing one to see objects in the sky; this greatly exaggerates its effect on improving vision. Its meat treats dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) and bleeding from the five types of hemorrhoids, and should be roasted and eaten cooked.
Sweet, sour, neutral, non-toxic. Its shape and color are similar to that of the thrush, but it has a patch of red feathers on its head, and its beak and claws are hard and sharp like iron, so it can peck wood to extract grubs; this must not be confused.
Invention: The nature of the Woodpecker is specifically to kill grubs, so it treats ailments in the human viscera where accumulation resembles grubs. Li Shizhen treated consumptive disease (Lao Zhai), epilepsy, and flaccidity syndromes by taking advantage of its meaning of killing parasites. Burned to ash while retaining its properties, it treats hemorrhoids. For toothache caused by worms, inserting it into the cavity for two or three times cures it. The "Dan Fang" records treating dysphagia (Yi Ge); when other medicines are ineffective, boil it into a paste, add one qianbi of Moschus (Shexiang), and sniff it every six hours day and night, causing chest obstruction to open naturally. Generally, chest obstruction is often caused by qi stagnation and accumulation, because this substance is good at dispersing the pathogenic factor of wood stagnation.
This refers to the Cormorant.
Sour, salty, warm, slightly toxic. Some say salty and cold is incorrect.
Invention: The Cormorant has a cold nature and promotes urination; it can treat abdominal distension like a drum accompanied by cold body temperature. Burn the Cormorant until carbonized but retain its properties, grind into powder, and take with rice water. The ash of its bones mixed with honey and wrapped in cotton treats fishbone impaction, having the same efficacy as Egret Bone (Bailu Gu), with the beak bone being particularly effective. Cormorant feces are mostly excreted on rocks, purple-red like flowers; scraping them directly from the rock yields a name called Shu Shuihua, which can remove black spots, moles, scars, blemishes, and marks from burns and scalds on the face. Mixed with pig fat and applied externally, it treats carbuncles.
Eagle Feces White (Yingshi Bai).
Slightly cold, non-toxic.
The "Ben Jing" states it mainly treats bruises from beating and eliminates scars.
Invention: When the tiger roars, wind arises from the earth; when the eagle flies, wind moves in the sky. Although their specific forms differ, their mechanisms correspond identically. The eagle possesses strong wings but cannot rely on them indefinitely without worry. When autumn arrives, fire hides and metal generates, seasons change, strong feathers gradually shed, weak feathers have not yet grown, and although there is heroic wind, it cannot yet soar vigorously; thus, other birds mock it. This is what the "Yue Ling" refers to as "the eagle sacrifices birds." Ancient sages, reflecting on things, specifically took the white part of eagle feces to eliminate marks from bruises. Although using filthy matter to cleanse stains, it actually takes advantage of the feather's ability to shed easily. Later generations extended this use to cleanse old nebulae (cataracts/opacities) in the eyes. It is commonly used in blowing or dropping eye medications. The undigested feathers in its feces are called Ying Tiao; used in Yin Dan and Yang Dan, not only does it take advantage of the feather's shedding nature to treat diseases that are difficult to resolve, but it also uses the undigested feathers in the feces to eliminate unshed nebulae in the eyes. The wonderful utility of shedding is praised by ancients but not fully proclaimed; therefore, it is displayed to later generations so as not to lose the original meaning of usage from the "Ben Jing."