GAME. 191 



Quails are plenty in the fall and winter months, when they 

 are tracked on the snow. They abound in the Western 

 States ; they are sold by the dozen, generally bringing one 

 dollar per dozen. 



Grouse and Prairie-Hens are trapped at the West in great 

 numbers during the winter, and in the New York market 

 are to be had at one dollar, and frequently fifty cents, per pair. 



Plover and Snipe. This tribe, containing six or eight 

 varieties, is sold by the dozen. In Europe plovers' eggs are 

 served in the nest of the bird ; the fine blue speckled eggs are 

 cooked, and left again in the nest, which is sent to the table 

 precisely as the winged architect constructed it, a pictur- 

 esque ornament. It is not an edible nest, like the nests of the 

 Java Swallow, called Salangane, and by some naturalists the 

 Esculent Swallow, though the nest, which is thought to be 

 made of the spawn of fish, is only eaten ; the viscous sub- 

 stance is collected by this swallow from the rocks, or gathered 

 from the surface of the sea. The gelatinous matter of these 

 nests, somewhat resembling isinglass, is by the Chinese dis- 

 solved in chicken or mutton-broth, and travellers, among 

 others our distinguished countryman, Bayard Taylor, have 

 acknowledged their title to rank as a delicacy. 



The Virginia Rail, who builds her nest of sedgy materials 

 near the sea-shore, or in quagmires, when used for the table, 

 should, like most aquatic birds, have a sliced carrot or onion 

 introduced after the bird is drawn, to remove a strong taste 

 induced by the diet and situation of such birds. 



The Cedar or Carolina Rice-bird, sold by the dozen, makes 

 a very delicious pie. 



The Wild Pigeon requires to be braised, or stewed slowly 

 with savory adjuncts ; thus potted, it is very nice ; but it 

 never affords such a variety of dishes as the tame pigeon, the 

 young or squabs of the last being delicious, either broiled or 

 served in a pie. 



