162 ANIMAL FOOD RESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



" He that feeds on no worse meat than quails, 

 And with choice dainty pleaseth appetite, 

 Will never have great lust to gnaw his nails, 

 Or in a coarse thin diet take delight." 



The most approved way of cooking a quail is to 

 envelop it in a very thin slice o£ bacon, tie it up in a 

 large vine leaf, and then roast it. A cold quail pie is, 

 also a capital dish. 



The Virginian quail (Ortyx Virginianus) is inferior to 

 the European or African. Numbers are imported from 

 America in barrels. 



The pin-tailed sand-grouse, "el katte," (Pterocles 

 alchata), of which enormous flights may be sometimes 

 seen in the East, is believed to be the veritable quail of 

 the Israelites. There is an Arabian quail, the bones and 

 tendons of which are said to be so small and tender, that 

 every part of the bird can be eaten. 



Many of the towns of France have a reputation for 

 their game pies. Chartres, which is situated in the 

 centre of an abundant game district, is noted for these 

 pies, which are composed of partridges, quails, larks, and 

 hares, also for those made with plovers and dotterels. 

 The town of Pithiviers is well-known for its patis de 

 mauviettes ; these are in season from the time of fogs or 

 mist up to January. Rouen is renowned for its patis de 

 poulardes, boned and seasoned with ham. Amiens is 

 noted for its patis de canards, in originating which De- 

 gand, a man celebrated for his cooking, realised a for- 

 tune of a million of francs. 



Montreuil on the sea has a high reputation for its 

 " woodcock patis," while Strasbourg is noted for its patis 

 de foies gras. Formerly there was a strong objection 

 among foreigners to eating these, from the cruel practice 

 resorted to by the Jews to enlarge the liver at the 

 expense of the other parts of the body. The geese were 

 placed alive in an oven, which was gradually heated 

 until the liver attained its greatest size. This has long 

 been abolished, and the birds are now only shut up, like 

 cloistered nuns, in small confined cells, which prevent 



