240 TO CHOOSE BIRDS. 



in shooting, either as a sportsman or a naturalist, could 

 willingly be without such a portable, cheap, and yet 

 such a very superior work. 



If you shoot a curious bird, arid have not the means 

 of getting it stuffed while fresh, you may preserve the 

 skin of it for many months by putting therein dry tow 

 and powdered ginger. May and June are the worst 

 months for the moth; and just then camphor is a good 

 addition. But for MOTH, in EVERY STATE, the never- 

 failing, though poisonous REMEDY, is CORROSIVE 

 SUBLIMATE, dissolved in SPIRITS of wine. To skin 

 a bird, open him either on one side, or down the back. 



I have, as proposed at the beginning, marked only 

 those of the broad-billed birds which are fit for the 

 table; and this has been done as a caution against the 

 imposition of marketmen and poulterers, who, for in- 

 stance, would have little hesitation in serving you with 

 a couple of gray geese, or burrough ducks, by way of 

 a " delicate bottom dish for your second course." 



Although it is not meant to dwell here on a subject, 

 which more properly belongs to a cookery book, yet it 

 would be very hard not to have some consideration for 

 many, who would rather see one bird roasted and well 

 frothed up on a table, than ten thousand springing 

 from a stubble, or feeding under the moon. Let it 

 therefore be observed, that, in choosing birds, you 

 cannot be guided better than by selecting those, which, 

 of their kind, are the heaviest in weight and the least 

 beautiful in plumage. 



Young birds may be distinguished by the softness 

 of their quills, which, in older ones, will be hard and 

 white. The females are, in general, preferable to the 

 males ; they are more juicy, and seldom so tough. For 



