183 



CHAP. xvir. 



THE ORTOL-VN : ABtWDANT IN HOLLAND : SUBJECT TO APOPLEXY 

 FEOil OVER FATNESS. — SJIOLLETT'S METHOD OF DKESSLNG THEJI. 



ADVEXTFEE EST HOLLAND. — SEVERITY OF DUTCH CRIiriNAL 



LAWS. — SIR DAYID DUNDAS. — THREATENED ARREST. — DISPATCHES 

 TO DUTCH ARMY. — FORTUNATE PROMOTION. 



I WILL now give a description of the ortolan, which is 

 considered by epicures and bons-vivants the most deli- 

 cious of all birds for the table. Its flavour is super- 

 excellent, and when in good condition one may really 

 affirm that it almost melts in the mouth. The ortolan, 

 is something less than the yellowhammer ; length six 

 inches and a quarter ; bill yellowish ; the head and neck 

 cinereous olive ; throat and round the eyes yellowish ; 

 the breast and belly are red, and the upper part of the 

 body brown, with rufous edges, excepting the outer fea- 

 ther, marked obliquely with white near the end, with 

 a bro-wai tip ; legs yellowish. The female differs in 

 having the head and neck inclining to ash colour, marked 

 with small blackish dowTi; the shaft of each feather other- 

 Avise like the male. 



The ortolan or bunting is the same bird with the cele- 

 brated miliria of Varro. Long before his time it was 

 known at Rome, where it was kept in the aviaries with 

 the quails and thrushes. The ortolans are prepared for 



