FLESH FOOD FURNISHED BY THE FEATHERED TRIBES. 165 



be termed a tripod, and fantastically decked out with a 

 variety of feathers, specially prepared for the purpose, 

 is highly suggestive of the complicated Indian preserves 

 of this nature. 



The flesh of the passerine ground dove of America 

 (Chammpeliapa8serma,Jjinn.) is very delicate and much 

 sought after in the Antilles. 



Wood pigeons are so numerous occasionally in parts 

 of Scotland that special funds are raised to promote 

 their destruction. They arrive in great flocks from 

 Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, and at least 17,000 are 

 annually killed, according to the returns of the United 

 East Lothian Agricultural Society. The fields of red 

 clover are occasionally blue with the number of these 

 pigeons feeding. 



The flesh of the turtle dove {Columba turtur, Linn.) is 

 considered much superior to that of the wild pigeon. 

 Dampier, when he visited the Gallapagos Islands, in 

 1684, says "there are great plenty of turtle doves, so 

 tame that a man may kill five or six dozen in a fore- 

 noon with a stick. They are somewhat less than a 

 pigeon, but uncommonly fat." 



The flesh of the Penelope is white, delicate and 

 nutritious, and more tender and less dry than that of 

 the hocco, or crested curassow {Crax akctor), called the 

 royal pheasant by the Mexicans, and for this reason 

 esteemed more choice. It is to be feared that all 

 kinds of these game birds will in time become very 

 scarce. The flesh of the American guans, especially 

 Penelope marail, Gm., is excellent, and resembles that of 

 the pheasant ; it has been domesticated in France and 

 England. Penelope cristata, furnishes an excellent dish 

 for the table, and might advantageously be added to our 

 domestic stock of poultry, as its flesh is delicate. 



Ostrich-meat. — Those who have tasted Ostrich-meat 

 state that it is both wholesome and palatable, although, 

 as might be expected in the case of wild birds, it may 

 be somewhat hard and tough. Where the birds have 

 been domesticated, however, and fed on lucerne, clover 



