List. aves piscivoras; Hum. thinks the birds to be downright spoiled: olidas, rancidas, & grave olentes.
[2] Tor. Sentence wanting in other texts.
[3] For birds with a goatish smell Apicius should have repeated his excellent formula in ℞ No. [212], the method of parboiling the birds before final coction, if, indeed, one cannot dispense with such birds altogether. The above recipe does not in the least indicate how to treat smelly birds. Wrapping them in dough would vastly increase the ill-savour.
As for game birds, we agree with most connoisseurs that they should have just a suspicion of “haut goût”—a condition of advanced mellowness after the rigor mortis has disappeared.
[230] ANOTHER TREATMENT OF ODOR ALIUD CONTRA UIROSUM ODOREM [1]
[IF THE BIRDS SMELL, [1] STUFF THE INSIDE WITH CRUSHED FRESH OLIVES, SEW UP [the aperture] AND THUS COOK, THEN RETIRE THE COOKED OLIVES.
[1] Tor.; other texts aliter avem, i.e. that the olive treatment is not necessarily confined to ill smelling birds alone.