•'PETITS POVSSINS" AND BB0ILEB8. 99 



such a demand will help towards auooessful results, in 

 some cases at any rate. 



The following is an account which was published 

 some time ago in the Feathered World, written by a 

 lady who lives a few miles out of Paris : — 



" In the department of Seine-et-Oise, near Paris, 

 and especially in the district of Houdan, thousands of 

 chickens are reared early in the spring. They are fed 

 exclusively on barley-meal mixed with milk, or petit 

 lait (whey), and killed at five or six weeks old. "When 

 dressed for the table, in exactly the same way as 

 ordinary fowls, they are like large, fat pigeons ; the 

 flesh is white, juicy, and most delicious. In the swell 

 restaurants of Paris this dish is served under the name 

 of Poussin en cocotte. The cocotte is a saucepan of 

 brown earth, with a cover (a very ugly thing), in which 

 the poussin is stewed, with a piece of fresh butter, 

 pepper and salt. When the little " innocent " is 

 nicely dore (browned) it is brought on to the table 

 in the saucepan, and generally new peas are served 

 with it ; more generally still this nice and dainty little 

 dish is charged 5, 6 or 7 francs. Not all the breeds 

 are good to make petits poussins. Our Houdans are 

 excellent for this industry, as they mature so quickly ; 

 they are splendid table fowls and always fetch a good 

 price. This week the market prices have fallen at the 

 ' Halles de Paris,' the arrivals being more numerous ; 

 still Houdans were sold from 6 to 11 francs, when 

 ' Couraine ' fowls, which have a great renown, fetched 

 only a maximum of 6-50 francs. I doubt if your 

 English Houdans would be good enough to make 

 petits poussins. The breed has been quite altered by 



