152 SALT-CAT OLD RECEIPTS. 



The last dietetic, or rather, perhaps, medicinal 

 article necessary to be described, is the SALT-CAT, 

 so called from some old fancy of baking a real cat 

 with spices, for the use of pigeons, which, however, 

 I never observed to eat animal food. In compliance 

 with this custom, I caused to be placed in the middle 

 of the pigeon-loft, a dish of the following composition : 

 loam, sand, old mortar, fresh lime, bay-salt, cummin, 

 coriander, caraway seed, and allspice, moistened 

 into a consistence with urine. The pigeons were 

 constantly pecking at this, and were in a constant 

 state of good health ; how much of which may be 

 attributed to the use of the cat, I cannot determine ; 

 but, certainly, they are extremely fond of it, and if 

 it have no other merit, it prevents them from peck- 

 ing the mortar from the roof of the house, to which 

 otherwise they are much inclined. The cat was 

 mixed and heaped up in the dish, a piece of board 

 being placed upon the summit, to prevent the birds 

 from dunging upon it ; when become too hard it 

 was occasionally broken for them. 



The regular OLD FORMULA for this cat is as fol- 

 lows : gravel or drift-sand, unctuous loam, the rub- 

 bish of an old wall, or lime, a gallon of each should 

 lime be substituted for rubbish, a less quantity of 

 the former will suffice one pound of cummin-seed, 

 one handful of bay-salt ; mix with stale urine. In- 

 close this in jars, corked or stopped, holes being 

 vpunched in the sides, to admit the beaks of the 

 pigeons. These may be placed abroad. 



Many fanciful and groundless tales may be found 

 in old books, relative to the MEDICINAL and REME- 



