NATURE AND SPORT IN BRITAIN 



these birds are tasted in this country, and they are now 

 never seen in poulterers' shops, as they used to be 

 until a few years back in certain Sussex coast towns. 

 The South Down shepherds have, perforce, given 

 up snaring them, and, although here and there some 

 epicure may procure on the quiet a dozen or two of 

 these dainties for his own private consumption, they 

 are now practically unknown on English tables. These 

 birds are in their prime in September, just as they 

 leave our shores, when, fattened and recruited by their 

 summer sojourn in mellow England, they are — I sup- 

 pose one must say ^'were" — undoubtedly, delicious 

 eating. Still, tempting as they are, I prefer the sight 

 of these cheerful migrants, with their handsome 

 plumage, and quick, restless, flirting ways, their toler- 

 ance of mankind, and their pleasant little song, to the 

 same creatures baked, like so many blackbirds, in a 

 capacious pie. 



Ruffs and reeves have, like the wheatear, vanished 

 from the kitchens of British cooks and the tables of the 

 rich. Unlike those birds, however, they are, at the 

 present day, very seldom found in these islands, except 

 occasionally as mere passing visitants on their spring 

 and summer migrations. In the days when they were 

 plentiful, they were netted by the aid of decoys, and 

 thereafter fattened for about a fortnight, being fed on 

 boiled wheat, and bread and milk, mixed with hemp 

 seed, and occasionally sugar. Thus prepared, they 

 were considered by our ancestors among the greatest 

 delicacies that could be offered to a distinguished guest. 

 In another chapter I have dealt fully with the habits 

 and history of these birds. 



The bar-tailed godwit, known locally as the yarwhelp, 

 sea-woodcock, and half-curlew, is another of the great 

 family of wading birds which was formerly in much 



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