80 A BIRD COLLECTOR’S MEDLEY. 
cover, and reveals to the expectant epicure two dark, mahogany-coloured 
carcasses; and though, when first they taste them, most persons say “ really 
very fair,’ “much better than I expected,’ &c., we imagine this only 
means that they expected very little. Anyhow, the carver notices that no 
one comes for a second serving; the so-called bones on people’s plates are 
for the most part invisible beneath a solid covering of meat, while the 
proposal to have another pair cooked has, we are told, never been known 
to find a seconder. 
As a rule, the finest pair find their way into the hands of a taxidermist ; 
the remainder are distributed throughout the village. 
