SOME FORGOTTEN EDIBLE BIRDS 



should be shot early in the day. Sir Ralph Payne-Gall- 

 wey, a great authority on wildfowl, says that when 

 coots first appear on the coast in winter from their in- 

 land haunts they are ''excellent eating." That seems 

 to me somewhat high praise for this bird. To prepare 

 coots for table they should be plucked, then well rubbed 

 with rosin, after dipping in boiling water ; by this 

 means the troublesome black down is got rid of. 

 Then comes the immersion in cold water, which should, 

 according to Colonel Hawker, last for twenty-four 

 hours, with frequent changes. Skinning is a trouble- 

 some process, and by some authorities is said to destroy 

 the better flavour of the bird. "Moorhens," says 

 Hawker, "may be cleaned in like manner (with rosin 

 and steeping in cold water), and, if in good condition, 

 they will then be equal to any waterfowl." 



These notes will serve to indicate that we have among 

 us a fair number of birds which are either absolutely 

 forgotten as a food-supply, or are partaken of very 

 sparingly even by country people. Looking at the 

 miserable havoc wrought in Italy and other continental 

 countries, and remembering the rare beauties of an 

 English spring, rendered incomparably more fascinat- 

 ing by the sight and music of myriads of small birds, 

 it is certainly as well that we have abandoned some of 

 the propensities of our ancestors. In the seventeenth 

 century, for instance, many kinds of small birds were 

 eaten. Sparrows we still consider edible, and can well 

 afford to put out of the world. A writer of 1677 says 

 of this bird : " The sparrow is excellent food, and a 

 great restorer of decayed nature." Alas ! if this last 

 statement were but true ! We have enough sparrows 

 in this country to give health to the whole population 

 of these islands. Among other small birds recom- 

 mended by the same author as a food-supply were the 



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