136 FLESH OF 



whose action is chiefly performed by the wing 1 , have 

 almost the whole muscular structure of their bodies 

 concentrated upon that ; and if they have to remain 

 long in the air, and contend with the wind there, the 

 structure of the muscles is proportionally rigid, and 

 they are, of course, difficult of mastication and diges- 

 tion. In these cases, extra dressing, whether by the 

 action of the dry fire or by boiling, does not cure the 

 evil ; for though these muscles become more easily 

 divided in proportion as they are more dressed, they 

 become at the same time, and perhaps in a greater 

 proportion, more dry and tasteless, and less digestive 

 and nourishing. A dinner of the pectoral muscles of 

 well-seasoned eagles, or the larger hawks, would be 

 serious labour for the jaws of even the most willing 

 masticator ; and bating the bitter taste, a rook of five 

 broods would make almost as tough a meal as oakum 

 or old junk. These qualities decrease as the birds 

 make less use of their wings ; and in those birds 

 which are not allowed to fly at all, while fattening 

 for the table, the muscle is more juicy and tender 

 than in any others. But that preparation may be 

 overdone, by the bird having less exercise than 

 accords with a healthy state of its system, and then 

 what is gained in tenderness and even mass of flesh, 

 is more than lost in flavour and wholesomeness. If 

 the inactivity is unnatural and the food abundant, 

 the tendency is an over-production of fat ; and the 

 fat of birds is the least wholesome of all fat. It con- 

 sists chiefly of elain, and not of crystallisable fat, 

 and as such it very readily passes into an oil, difficult 

 of digestion and very much disposed to become ran- 

 cid. A barn-door fowl, which roams freely as it lists, 

 enjoying plenty and variety of food, and clapping its 

 wings and flying a little if so inclined, is, in point of 



