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FOOD VALUE AND USES OF POULTRY. 5 
family meals, however, where they are used in the place of chicken or 
turkey, the fresh flavor is usually preferred. 
Young birds are ready for the market in the early autumn, and 
older birds are to be obtained throughout the winter. A quick 
method of cooking, such as broiling, develops the flavor of guinea 
fowl better than such slow ones as boiling or stewmg, and hence 
young, tender-fleshed birds, which can be quickly cooked, are prefers 
able to older ones. 
PIGEONS AND SQUABS. 
The varieties of pigeons used for food have been developed from 
the wild blue rock dove but are considerably larger than their wild 
ancestors. Even so, the breast is the only part of the body on which 
the flesh occurs in masses large enough to be used to advantage. 
The breast muscles, which are slightly lighter in color than the rest, 
_are tender before the birds begin to fly, but rapidly toughen with use 
until in the mature birds they require long, slow cooking to make them 
edible. Hence, the young, called squabs, are much superior for table 
use. They are best when about 4 weeks old, that is, after they have 
begun to grow plump but before they are ready to leave the nest. 
They are most plentiful in midsummer, but when artificial mating 
and breeding are practiced they can be obtained the year round, very 
fine ones often appearing in midwinter. A publication of this de- 
partment! treats of squab raising for market. There is a great 
demand for squabs by hotels, restaurants, private hospitals, etc., | 
but their cost is usually too high for them to be used frequently in 
the ordinary family. The older birds are so seldom eaten in the 
United States that they are almost a negligible quantity in poultry 
markets and sell for very low prices. In Europe they are much 
more commonly used, pigeon pie and potted pigeon being forms in 
which they are considered especially palatable. 
DUCKS. 
Most of the domesticated breeds of ducks have been derived from 
the wild mallard. Duck breeding has long been practiced in the Old 
World, where both meat and eggs are in common use, but until 
recently they were raised in this country only incidentally by farmers 
who happened to have access to pond or stream. Of late years, how- 
ever, the duck-raising industry has been greatly developed, with 
the result that the birds are much improved in size and quality, and 
are more commonly eaten than formerly. The egg-laying strains 
are also attracting attention. 
Duck flesh is dark throughout and has a distinctive flavor, gener- 
ally considered palatable. There is a relatively small proportion of 
1U.S8. Dept. Agr., Farmers’ Bul. 684 (1915). 
