96 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES, 



have recourse for their subsistence to insects, until 

 the maize begins to form its grains, and then the 

 milky substance which these contain is devoured with 

 the same avidity that marks their attacks upon the 

 rice-plant. Extensive flocks of the oryzivora are 

 found during the spring and summer in New York 

 and Rhode Island ; there they breed, quitting with 

 their young for the southward, in time for the tender 

 rice-grains of Cuba. It is remarkable that the males 

 and females do not migrate in company, the females 

 being always the first to perform their voyages. These 

 birds are eaten as a great delicacy, and the song of 

 the male is said to be melodious. 



The uses to which rice is actually applied may be 

 easily defined. In a great part of India and China 

 it forms the subsistence of the native population, 

 more exclusively and to a greater extent than can 

 perhaps be said of any other vegetable substance in 

 any known region of the globe. In the countries 

 just mentioned, as well as in those districts of Africa 

 where it is used indiscriminately with maize, rice un- 

 dergoes but little culinary preparation, being, for 

 the most part, simply boiled with water, and eaten 

 either by itself, or accompanied by some stimulating 

 or oily substance. In countries, on the other hand, 

 where it is employed only as an auxiliary article 

 of food, rice is subjected to a greater degree of 

 preparation for the table, and except when used to 

 thicken broths, is seldom presented, unless after con- 

 coction with eggs, and milk, and sugar, which cover 

 the natural insipidity of the grain. 



In years when the harvest is deficient in this 

 country, it is usual to hear a great deal about the 

 practicability and advantage of mixing rice with 

 wheaten or rye flour for making bread, and this may, 

 without doubt, be done in a certain moderate pro- 

 portion ; such bread, however, speedily becomes 



