According to Martial, the breast and neck are the only parts of the duck which are fit to be eaten. (Xenia.)
Athenæus mentions that the swan was sometimes brought to the table. (Deipnos. ix.) Its flesh is very hard.
The crane and the stork were not regular articles of food, but Horace mentions that the latter had been used as such for the first time in his days (Sat. ii, 2, 49); and Athenæus enumerates the former among the viands at a banquet. Psellua calls the crane nutritious, but difficult of digestion.
The tongue of the flamingo (Phœnicopterus ruber) was reckoned an exquisite delicacy by the Roman epicures. See Martial (xiii, 71); Juvenal (Sat. ii); Philostratus (in vit. Apoll.) The favorite delicacy of Heliogabalus was the tongue of the flamingo. (Aug. Hist.)
The present is as good an occasion as we shall most probably find, of saying something regarding the use of the locust, or gryllus migratorius, as an article of food. Every person will think of John the Baptist, who lived on locusts and wild honey, in the desert of Arabia. Agatharcides gives a very curious account of the Acridophagi or locust-eaters. He describes them as being of a very slender make, and extremely swarthy. He says they did not live beyond forty, being cut off by a sort of tick (ricinus) which formed in their bodies. (Apud Photium.)
SECT. LXXXIII.—ON EGGS.
The eggs of hens and pheasants are the best of all; those of geese and ostriches not good: of all animals, fresh eggs are superior to the old. Those that are moderately boiled are most nutritive; those that are slightly boiled pass downwards most easily, and smooth asperities in the throat. All the other kinds are difficult to digest and evacuate, and contain thick juices, except those that are said to be suffocated. These are prepared by beating up raw eggs, sauce, wine, and oil, and coagulating to a middling consistence in a double vessel. In this state they are of easy digestion, and supply good juices. But of all others the fried are the worst.
Commentary. Our author, Oribasius, and Aëtius copy their account of eggs from Galen.
Hippocrates says that they are nutritious, strengthening, and flatulent. See also Celsus (ii, 18.)