DIFFERENT BIRDS. 137 



flavour and wholesomeness, worth all the penned 

 birds that ever were " prepared for the market." This 

 is, as nearly as can perhaps be obtained in Britain, 

 the natural state of the bird ; and though there is 

 no doubt something of the influence of name in the 

 matter, the fact of their living and feeding in a state 

 of nature is one grand cause of the preference given 

 to the wild gallinidae. But the flesh of these also is 

 tougher and more dry in proportion as they are more 

 in the habit of using the wing ; and therefore if they 

 cannot be dressed before they stiffen at all, they 

 require to be kept till incipient putrefaction makes 

 them tender ; and when they are very high, the 

 organs of taste and smell sometimes have disputes 

 about their real worth. 



Thus, the qualities which the flesh of the gallinidae 

 derives from their small tendency to flight, renders 

 them more immediately valuable to man than any 

 other birds ; and the very same circumstances, taken 

 in conjunction with their other habits, render them 

 among the most easily obtained. They are also 

 among the most prolific, and instead of vanishing 

 before the progress of culture, as is the case with 

 many other birds, they increase in proportion as man 

 cultivates the ground. The partridge comes where 

 man ploughs, and in proportion as he plants, phea- 

 sants increase in numbers. 



The chief use of the wings of the gallinids, besides 

 enabling those which perch during the night to reach 

 their perches, appears to be safety against quadruped 

 foes. Their fluttering gets them, perhaps, sooner 

 above the reach of these than if they had a more 

 steady and forward style of flight. From birds of 

 prey they may be said, one and all, to be incapa- 

 ble of escaping on the wing ; their safety from these 



