TO DRESS WHEATEARS.
996. INGREDIENTS.—Wheatears; fresh butter.
Mode.—After the birds are picked, gutted, and cleaned, truss them like larks, put them down to a quick fire, and baste them well with fresh butter. When done, which will be in about 20 minutes, dish them on fried bread crumbs, and garnish the dish with slices of lemon.
Time.—20 minutes.
Seasonable from July to October.
THE WHEATEAR.—The wheatear is an annual visitor of England: it arrives about the middle of March and leaves in September. The females come about a fortnight before the males, and continue to arrive till the middle of May. They are in season from July to October, and are taken in large numbers on the South Downs, in the neighbourhood of Eastbourne, Brighton, and other parts of Sussex. They are taken by means of snares and nets, and numbers of them are eaten on the spot by the inhabitants. The larger ones are sent to London and potted, where they are by many as much esteemed as the ortolans of the continent. Mr. Pennant assigns as the reason of their abounding on the downs about Eastbourne, the existence of a species of fly which forms their favourite food, and which feeds on the wild thyme on the adjacent hills.
[Illustration: THE GUINEA-PIG.]
997. THE GUINEA-PIG.—This common hutch-companion of the rabbit, although originally a native of Brazil, propagates freely in England and other European countries. Were it not that they suffer cruelly from cats, and numerous other enemies, and that it is the habit of the males to devour their own offspring, their numbers would soon become overwhelming. Rats, however, it is said, carefully avoid them; and for this reason they are frequently bred by rabbit-fanciers, by way of protection for their young stock against those troublesome vermin. The lower tier of a rabbit-hutch is esteemed excellent quarters by the guinea-pig: here, as he runs loose, he will devour the waste food of his more admired companion. Home naturalists assert that the guinea-pig will breed at two months old, the litter varying from four to twelve at a time. It is varied in colour,—white, fawn, and black, and a mixture of the three colours, forming a tortoiseshell, which is the more generally admired hue. Occasionally, the white ones have red eyes, like those of the ferret and the white rabbit. Their flesh, although eatable, is decidedly unfit for food; they have been tasted, however, we presume by some enthusiast eager to advance the cause of science, or by some eccentric epicure in search of a new pleasure for his palate. Unless it has been that they deter rats from intruding within the rabbit-hutch, they are as useless as they are harmless. The usual ornament of an animal's hind quarters is denied them; and were it not for this fact, and also for their difference in colour, the Shaksperean locution, "a rat without a tail," would designate them very properly.
[Illustration: THE CYGNET.]
998. THE CYGNET.—The Cygnet, or the young Swan, was formerly
much esteemed; but it has "fallen from its high estate," and is
now rarely seen upon the table. We are not sure that it is not
still fattened in Norwich for the corporation of that place.
Persons who have property on the river there, take the young
birds, and send them to some one who is employed by the
corporation, to be fed; and for this trouble he is paid, or was
wont to be paid, about half a guinea a bird. It is as the future
bird of elegance and grace that the young swan is mostly
admired; when it has become old enough to grace the waters, then
it is that all admire her, when she with
"Archèd neck,
Between her white wings mantling,
proudly rows
Her state with oary feet."