典藏书目

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."