136 ANIMAL FOOD EESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



at several of the International Exhibitions. They "will 

 keep good, it is said, for three years. 



Thegriveas (Alauda arvensis) and thrushes are much in 

 esteem and generally introduced at table at Nice, roasted 

 on toast with a thin layer of bacon fat over them. 



We have our delicate tit-bits in spitted larks ; as many. 

 as four thousand dozen have been known to be taken in 

 the neighbourhood of Dunstable between September and 

 Eebruarj-. What the number sold in our metropolitan 

 markets may be annually, it is impossible to say, but 

 400 dozen can be bought in one day. A few centuries 

 ago larks were sold in London at 6d. a dozen, and black- 

 birds at lOd. a dozen. Larks are chiefly the produce of 

 Cambridgeshire, with a smaller proportion from Bedford- 

 shire. They are of easy sale now at about Is. a dozen, 

 and are generally roasted; at one time they were- 

 fashionable in pies. Larks are taken in much larger 

 numbers in Germany, where there is an excise upon them, 

 which has yielded as much as £1,000 a year in Leipsic. 

 The larks of that place are famous all over the German 

 Empire as being of a most delicate flavour. 



In the Italian markets, besides carrion crows, strings 

 of thmshes, larks, and even robin redbreasts are sold. 



Each year in the autumn, in the south of France and 

 Italy, there is aii enormous destruction of small birds, 

 which migrate to pass the winter in a warmer climate. 



Owing to the number of robin redbreasts which are 

 eaten in Lorraine, these pretty songsters are becoming 

 scarce. Swallows, redbreasts, and larks are all shot for 

 eating. 



The flesh of the young ^oidS&xe' {Tiirdus pilaris) is ac- 

 counted very good eating, and preferable to that of the 

 thrush. It is much eaten in Germany. They migrate 

 here in October staying till Eebruary, and are best in 

 December and January. 



The flesh of the white Lapland sparrow is so good 

 that in Sweden it is considered equal to the ortolan. 



The Itahans are said to be fond of the flesh of the 

 cuckoo, and those who have tasted it state that the 



