FOOD VALUE AND USES OF POULTRY. 5 



family meals, however, where they are used in the place of chicken or 

 turkey, the fresh flavor is usually preferred. 



Young birds are ready for the market in the early autumn, and 

 older birds are to be obtained throughout the winter. A quick 

 method of cooking, such as broiling, develops the flavor of guinea 

 fowl better than such slow ones as boiling or stewing, and hence 

 young, tender-fleshed birds, which can be quickly cooked, are prefer- 

 able to older ones. 



PIGEONS AND SQUABS. 



The varieties of pigeons used for food have been developed from 

 the wild blue rock dove but are considerably larger than their wild 

 ancestors. Even so, the breast is the only part of the body on which 

 the flesh occurs in masses large enough to be used to advantage. 

 The breast muscles, which are slightly lighter in color than the rest, 

 are tender before the birds begin to fly, but rapidly toughen with use 

 until in the mature birds they require long, slow cooking to make them 

 edible. Hence, the young, called squabs, are much superior for table 

 use. They are best when about 4 weeks old, that is, after they have 

 begun to grow plump but before they are ready to leave the nest. 

 They are most plentiful in midsummer, but when artificial mating 

 and breeding are practiced they can be obtained the year round, very 

 fine ones often appearing in midwinter. A publication of this de- 

 partment 1 treats of squab raising for market. There is a great 

 demand for squabs by hotels, restaurants, private hospitals, etc., 

 but their cost is usually too high for them to be used frequently in 

 the ordinary family. The older birds are so seldom eaten in the 

 United States that they are almost a negligible quantity in poultry 

 markets and sell for very low prices. In Europe they are much 

 more commonly used, pigeon pie and potted pigeon being forms in 

 which they are considered especially palatable. 



DUCKS. 



Most of the domesticated breeds of ducks have been derived from 

 the wild mallard. Duck breeding has long been practiced in the Old 

 World, where both meat and eggs are in common use, but until 

 recently they were raised in this country only incidentally by farmers 

 who happened to have access to pond or stream. Of late years,, how- 

 ever, the duck-raising industry has been greatly developed, with 

 the result that the birds are much improved in size and quality, and 

 are more commonly eaten than formerly. The egg-laying strains 

 are also attracting attention. 



Duck flesh is dark throughout and has a distinctive flavor, gener- 

 ally considered palatable. There is a relatively small proportion of 



i U. S. Dept, Agr., Farmers' Bui. 684 (1915). 



