SOME FORGOTTEN EDIBLE BIRDS 



a big fowling-piece, a gamekeeper to that gentleman 

 secured no less than eleven of these magnificent birds 

 as the result of a single discharge. Seven fell dead at 

 once, while four others were gathered afterwards a 

 truly wonderful bag ! l I have twice heard of a suc- 

 cessful right and left with paauw, the great bustard of 

 South Africa, but a bag of eleven of these gigantic 

 gamebirds is something to ponder over. In those 

 days (1808) the equipment of a keeper on the wild 

 Yorkshire wolds consisted, inter alia, of a trained 

 stalking-horse, a coat made from the skin of a dead 

 horse, with the hair outside, and a mighty gun no 

 doubt a 4-bore. Number 3 shot were used, and the 

 stalker often got within thirty yards of his game. 

 With this outfit the bustards, which in those days 

 bred in this locality, were successfully circumvented. 



Fieldfares, except among country people, are now 

 well-nigh forgotten as table birds. Yet a cold fieldfare 

 pie is, to my thinking, a most excellent dish, fit to set 

 before any man. It is astonishing how these birds pile 

 on fat on the breast and flanks, even in hard winter 

 weather. I can remember as a youngster, during 

 Christmas holidays in Warwickshire and Northampton- 

 shire, making prodigious bags of these excellent birds 

 " felts" they are always called in the midlands 

 during snowy weather. And the great pies that ensued 

 still linger in the memory with peculiar fragrance. 

 Fieldfares can be either roasted like larks, cooked in a 

 pie with bacon, or, as I think, preferably, made into 

 a pie with the addition of thin slices of beef. Both the 

 common fieldfare and the redwing were held in high 

 estimation among the Romans, who kept them by 



1 A very interesting- account of this and other remarkable shots at 

 bustards was given by Mr. J. E. Harting in the Field of 6th March, 

 1897. 



2 9 



