392 PROCESS OF FATTING. [CHAP. x. 



Mr. Yarrell, Col. Montague, and their plagiarists, 

 have written pickerwick; thus throwing back the accent, 

 and making a real dactyl of it, but losing all re- 

 semblance to the bird's cry, which pick-werwick retains 

 if accented in the same manner as the English words 

 " precisely," " moreover," " morosely," and such like. 



The price of Quails in London may be stated at about 

 55. the couple ; fewer than three couple can hardly be 

 set upon a table, and these, when trussed for the spit, 

 will perhaps altogether weigh 1 Ib. At the end of the 

 London season, the purveyors of dinner-parties would 

 give anything for a new dish to stimulate the cloyed 

 appetite and the jaded eye; we strongly recommend 

 them to vary the entrees of Quails with various prepara- 

 tions of Sparrows, or any other of our winged nuisances, 

 before the fruit season and the harvest comes on ; they 

 would answer the purpose just as well, and the innovation 

 would be a real benefit to the country. 



Quails for the table are kept crowded in small low 

 cages. Mr. Baily, of Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, 

 informs us " The remarks which I made with regard 

 to the influence of season in fatting the Ortolan, apply 

 equally to the Quail, although belonging to a different 

 genus. I have had very many thousands of them, wild* 

 greedy birds. A timid bird, if looked at, will hide in a 

 corner of its cage, and take no notice of food ; not so the 

 Quail : he eats readily the moment food is offered, and 

 thrusts his head boldly between the bars, although 

 strangers are looking on; yet I never saw two fight, 

 [because they had not room to do so ; it would have been 

 different had three or four been placed by themselves 

 in a cage inclosing sufficient sjpace for tilting ground.] 

 I have hundreds of times seen them scrambling over 



