This nomenclature would be incomplete, did we not briefly mention some kinds of game which appeared with more or less favour on the tables of the ancients.
The Wood-Hen, dear to the Greeks,[XX_84] was not common at Rome in the time of Varro. The curious reared them in aviaries with other rare birds.[XX_85]
The Bustard, the Water-Hen, and the Teal, found many admirers.[XX_86]
The Romans reared the last-named,[XX_87] and judged it worthy of notice among the most delicate morsels of the feast.
The Woodcock, which is thought to be the rustica perdix of Martial,[XX_88] and the Snipe do not appear to have obtained from the gastrophilists of antiquity that attention they deserved. This delicious game was ill-appreciated in Italy and at Athens. History, that “conscience of posterity,” reproaches them with this oversight, and is astonished that the Curlew should have usurped, particularly in Greece,[XX_89] a pre-eminence which it certainly does not deserve.
“The fat of the snipe is of a most delicate savour, which it acquires only after the first appearance of the frosty season. It is cooked like the woodcock, without being drawn.”—Vieillot.
The gourmets have a way of knowing when the flesh of the woodcock is arrived at the degree of flavour required to be sought after: the bird is suspended by the beam-feather of the middle of its tail; when the body gets loose and full, then is the time to eat it.
“The woodcock is cooked with the entrails in, which, being pounded with what they contain, form its own and best seasoning.”—Sonnini.
The Crow, an object of superstitious worship among the Egyptians,[XX_90] offered to the less scrupulous inhabitants of Alexandria a dish unequalled in delicacy;[XX_91] but which never seems to have tempted the nations of the west.
The Turtle Dove,[XX_92] whose timid innocence caused it to be revered in Assyria,[XX_93] had a less glorious destiny at Rome. It was roasted, and epicures greedily devoured the legs.[XX_94]