LOCUSTS 



it, nine times out of ten, more or less crammed with 

 Locusts. The Partridge dotes on them, preferring them 

 to seeds as long as he can catch them. This highly- 

 flavoured, nourishing fare would almost make him forget 

 the existence of seeds, if it were only there all the year 

 round. 



The Wheat-ear, too, who is so good to eat, prefers the 

 Locust to any other food. And all the little birds of 

 passage which, when autumn comes, call a halt in 

 Provence before their great pilgrimage, fatten them- 

 selves with Locusts as a preparation for the journey. 



Nor does man himself scorn them. An Arab author 

 tells us : 



"Grasshoppers" — (he means Locusts) — "are of good 

 nourishment for men and Camels. Their claws, wings, 

 and head are taken away, and they are eaten fresh or 

 dried, either roast or boiled, and served with flesh, flour, 

 and herbs. 



". . . Camels eat them greedily, and are given them 

 dried or roast, heaped in a hollow between two layers of 

 charcoal. Thus also do the Nubians eat them. . . . 



"Once, when the Caliph Omar was asked if it were 

 lawful to eat Grasshoppers, he made answer: 



" 'Would that I had a basket of them to eat.' " 



"Wherefore, from this testimony, it is very sure that, 

 by the Grace of God, Grasshoppers were given to man 

 for his nourishment." 



[231] 



