Canvas -Back and Terrapin. 747 



AFTER A GOOD DAY S WORK. 



when found is easily secured. A four-pound terrapin taken about 

 September 1 5th will exist prosperously in a dark, cool place, without 

 food or drink, until April 15th, and (the dealers say) will gain two 

 ounces in weight. After that time it gets lively and active, and will 

 take hold of a finger with great effusion and effectiveness. The male 

 terrapin is known as a "bull "and the female as a "cow." The 

 latter is much more highly prized, and generally contains about thirty 

 eggs. No dish of terrapin is thought complete without being gar- 

 nished with these. It is sad to be compelled to state that the sinful 

 restaurateur and hotel man betakes him to the egg of the pigeon, 

 wherewith to set off his counterfeit presentment of a noble reptile. 



Thirty years ago, the largest dealer in Baltimore had hard work 

 to dispose of the terrapin he received at $6 a dozen. The product, 

 he tells me, is about the same, year in and year out. He sells as 

 many now as he did then. But old people on the eastern peninsula 

 bring to mind when of a warm day the terrapins, basking in shoals on 

 the surface of the water, were caught in seines and fed to the pigs. 

 That day, however, is of the past, and it is doubtful if this valuable 

 article of food is not gradually becoming extinct. The negroes who 



