8718 Birds. 



Suffott, 13 {"^ j 



63 63 



Tastes seem to vary much respecting the edible qualities of these 

 strange birds, which, as far as my own experience goes, are in this 

 respect as much entitled to their specific name of paradoxus as for any of 

 their external peculiarities. Served up as " a delicious salmi" at the 

 dinner of the Acclimatisation Society, they are said to have been pro- 

 nounced " admirable " ; but here at least they were tried under the 

 most favourable circumstances, being cooked to perfection by a master 

 of the culinary art. Without all these advantages, and with the great 

 drawback of wanting their natural skins, the first brace I tried were 

 undoubtedly dry eating and somewhat tasteless, but presented, from 

 the great depth of the sternum, a" breast "fine at least in quantity if not 

 in quality. On the next occasion I had them baked, with the addition 

 of a beef-steak to assist in preserving their natural juices, and found 

 them much more tender and palatable, the flesh suggesting the flavour 

 of many things, though scarcely one in particular. I should say, 

 however, that they resemble the French partridge as much as any 

 other game bird, as they want the pungency of the quail, to which 

 they have been likened by some who have eaten them. Their only 

 resemblance to grouse consists in the two colours of the flesh, the 

 outer portion being very dark, and that nearest to the bone white. It 

 must be remembered, however, that these birds are not " in season :" 

 what they might become in autumn, after a corn diet, with their game 

 flavour excited by " keeping" (a thing impossible this hot weather), 

 is a point which perhaps the Acclimatisation Society will decide for 

 us at some future day. 



Henry Stevenson. 



Snowy Owl (Strix nyctea). — Mr. Saxby, in his notes on this owl (Zool. 8635) says, 

 "These hills [Balta] are strewn with large gray stones, intermixed with a few long- 

 shaped white ones ; the bird is exceedingly difficult to discover while resting in such 

 situations, so closely assimilating as it does in colour with the surrounding stones." 

 There is evident design in this ; an instinctive knowledge that the stone, wood, soil, 

 &c, assimilating with the plumage, secures it from observation. This was pointed 

 out in my Canada notes (Zool. 6702), showing how one managed to escape notice, 

 though perched within a few yards of me. Many birds are endowed with this faculty, 



