168 ANIMAL FOOD RESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



viers could not have met with more compliments, each 

 special dish having been successively put to the vote by 

 the chairman. While agreeing that all met with ap- 

 proval, the daube was considered the best, the tendons 

 k la financiere second, and the timbale a good third. 



It was thus proved that the young ostrich furnishes 

 excellent food for the table, and in view of the progress 

 making in domestication and artificial incubation at the 

 Cape Colony, Algeria, Australia, and elsewhere, there is 

 great probability of this bird appearing more frequently 

 as a dish on the tables in Europe. 



The young of the Rhea are eaten in South America. 



The flesh of the Ibis is savoury and good, its eggs are 

 nearly as large as those of the duck, and of a bright sky 

 blue colour. The glossy ibis {Plegadis falcinellus, Linn.) 

 is shot in Hungary and other parts in Europe. 



The flesh of the flamingo (Phcenicopterus antiquorum) is 

 pretty good meat, though rather fishy; the young are 

 thought by some to be equal to partridge. This bird 

 was not only esteemed as a bonne-bouche of old, but as 

 most valuable after dinner; for when the gluttonous 

 sensualists had eaten too much, they introduced one of its 

 long scarlet feathers down their throats to disgorge their 

 dinner. The flesh is red and coarse, and even the fat 

 part partakes of the crimson hue. 



According to Viellot, " the flesh of the Phoenicopterus 

 is a dish more sought after in Egypt than in Europe ; 

 however, Oatesby compares it for its delicacy to the 

 partridge. Dampier says it has a -fine flavour, though 

 lean and black. Dutertre finds it excellent, notwith- 

 standing its marshy taste ; the tongue is the most 

 delicious part." 



Apicius has left receipts for dressing it with more than 

 the minute accuracy of a modern cooking book, and the 

 Phoenicopterus ingens appears among the luxuries of the 

 table in Juvenal's eleventh satire. 



The brains and the tongue figure as one of the 

 favourite dishes of Heliogabalus, and jbhe superior excel- 

 lence of the latter was dwelt upon by the same Apicius, 



-A.i 



