266 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Of the thirty-two chapters which comprise the contents 

 of Healths Improvement, two only are devoted to wild 

 birds. These are numbers XI. and XII., and are respec- 

 tively entitled " Of the flesh of wild Fowl, abiding and 

 feeding chiefly upon the Land," and " Of the flesh of wild 

 Fowl, abiding and feeding chiefly upon the waters." 



Owing to the rarity of Muffett's work, we here reproduce 

 verbatim his observations as contained in these two 

 chapters, omitting only those portions which are of a 

 medical or purely discursive nature. It may be men- 

 tioned in passing, that the account of the wild birds is 

 preceded by a chapter (No. X.), which treats " Of the 

 flesh of tame Birds," from which it is interesting to learn 

 that " white chickens " were deemed to be hardest of 

 digestion, and that certain localities were already famous 

 for their breeds of domestic poultry, those of " the 

 Kentish kind " being preferred for " bigness and sw^eet- 

 ness." Of Peacocks as an article of diet, Muffetthad but 

 a poor opinion, informing us that " their flesh is very 

 hard, tough and melancholick, requiring a strong stomach 

 and much wine, and afterwards great exercise to overcome 

 it," and we further learn that the flavour of geese was 

 vastly improved by making these animals inhale the 

 " smoke of Borax down into their bodies " three or four 

 times before the}^ were killed. 



Turning to the chapters on the flesh of wuld-fowl, 

 Muffett's remarks are as follows : — 



CHAPTER XI. 



. . . now let us descend to their particulars, beginning 

 with birds of greater volume. 



TardtE. 



Bistards or Bustards (so called for their slow pace and heavy 

 flying) or as the Scots term them, Gusestards, that is to say. 

 Slow Geese, feed upon flesh, Livers, and young Lambs* out of 



* Evidently a confusion between Bustard and Buzzard ; c/. Yarrell, 

 British Birds, 4th ed., Vol. III., p. 195 ; vide, however, Smith's 

 Birds of Wiltshire, p. 353, where the principal food of a Great Bustard 

 kept in captivity is described as " birds, chiefly sparrows . . . also 

 mice." 



