are tricks in all trades, it was discovered that the priests
had found the way to compel fate, by placing wax imitations
of grain on those cards they did not wish to have chosen,
and the bird was wise enough to prefer the real to the
imitation grain.
Among the many breeds of fowls some are preferred for
flavour, others for size, or for the superiority of their eggs.
The Dorking and the game fowl are, perhaps, the prime
favourites in England for cooking purposes, the Spanish
for laying properties, and the Cochin China for the size and
flavour of the eggs ; but the breeds cultivated by poultry
fanciers are too numerous to mention — for profit, probably
the common barn-door fowl of mixed breed is the best.
CHAPTER VIII
EGGS
OF all articles of diet, eggs are perhaps the most generally
accepted ; they are relished alike by sage and savage, and
form a nutritious meal for prince or peasant. Nor is the
taste for this universal food confined to mankind, for the
hens themselves, the providers of the feast, often develop
cannibalistic tendencies, and will peck and devour the
very egg they have just deposited with so much care and
cackling; whilst snakes will lie in wait for the delicate
morsel, and will either swallow it whole, or tap it with their
teeth and suck out the contents ; and rats are credited with
making wheelbarrows of themselves, allowing themselves to
be pulled along by the ears by their comrades, in order to
secure the prize held safely in their paws. Dogs also
often develop a taste for eggs, which they will steal from
the nest without compunction, the only cure for the
propensity being to hold a hot egg in the mouth of the
delinquent. Monkeys, and particularly baboons, will also
diligently seek for and greedily devour all the eggs they
can lay their hands on, and are consequently much dreaded
by small birds. But, probably, rapacious birds are the
greatest devourers of the eggs of other species. It seems
a well authenticated fact, that the grey crow in Africa, will
108
EGGS iog
carry stones up to a considerable height and drop them
into an ostrich nest, in order to crack the hard shell which
would otherwise be prohibitive of the coveted feast ; whilst
travellers assert that wild ostriches always place several
eggs round the nest to serve as food for the young when
first hatched.
Happily for mankind, the eggs of noxious reptiles and
insects are relished as well as hen's eggs, and thus the
excessive increase, of deadly reptiles is prevented. The
ichneumon greedily devours the eggs of snakes and
crocodiles, and white ants' eggs are considered delicacies,
even by men. In our own country the magpie and the
jay are notorious thieves of the eggs of smaller birds; whilst
turkeys, pheasants, and guinea-fowls, will swallow millions
of ant eggs in a day, if they can get them.
Our viands
1893Page 51
Presented as published in 1893. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
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are tricks in all trades, it was discovered that the priests
had found the way to compel fate, by placing wax imitations
of grain on those cards they did not wish to have chosen,
and the bird was wise enough to prefer the real to the
imitation grain.
Among the many breeds of fowls some are preferred for
flavour, others for size, or for the superiority of their eggs.
The Dorking and the game fowl are, perhaps, the prime
favourites in England for cooking purposes, the Spanish
for laying properties, and the Cochin China for the size and
flavour of the eggs ; but the breeds cultivated by poultry
fanciers are too numerous to mention — for profit, probably
the common barn-door fowl of mixed breed is the best.
CHAPTER VIII
EGGS
OF all articles of diet, eggs are perhaps the most generally
accepted ; they are relished alike by sage and savage, and
form a nutritious meal for prince or peasant. Nor is the
taste for this universal food confined to mankind, for the
hens themselves, the providers of the feast, often develop
cannibalistic tendencies, and will peck and devour the
very egg they have just deposited with so much care and
cackling; whilst snakes will lie in wait for the delicate
morsel, and will either swallow it whole, or tap it with their
teeth and suck out the contents ; and rats are credited with
making wheelbarrows of themselves, allowing themselves to
be pulled along by the ears by their comrades, in order to
secure the prize held safely in their paws. Dogs also
often develop a taste for eggs, which they will steal from
the nest without compunction, the only cure for the
propensity being to hold a hot egg in the mouth of the
delinquent. Monkeys, and particularly baboons, will also
diligently seek for and greedily devour all the eggs they
can lay their hands on, and are consequently much dreaded
by small birds. But, probably, rapacious birds are the
greatest devourers of the eggs of other species. It seems
a well authenticated fact, that the grey crow in Africa, will
108
EGGS iog
carry stones up to a considerable height and drop them
into an ostrich nest, in order to crack the hard shell which
would otherwise be prohibitive of the coveted feast ; whilst
travellers assert that wild ostriches always place several
eggs round the nest to serve as food for the young when
first hatched.
Happily for mankind, the eggs of noxious reptiles and
insects are relished as well as hen's eggs, and thus the
excessive increase, of deadly reptiles is prevented. The
ichneumon greedily devours the eggs of snakes and
crocodiles, and white ants' eggs are considered delicacies,
even by men. In our own country the magpie and the
jay are notorious thieves of the eggs of smaller birds; whilst
turkeys, pheasants, and guinea-fowls, will swallow millions
of ant eggs in a day, if they can get them.