Page:Art of Cookery 1774 edition.djvu/360

322 THE duck, when fat, is hard and thick on the belly, but if not, thin and lean; if new, limber-footed; if stale; dry footed. A true wild duck has reddish foot, smaller than the tame one. IF these be old, their legs will be rough; if young, smooth; if fat, a fat rump; if new, limber-footed; if stale, dry-footed. THE cock when young, has dubbed spurs: when old, sharp small spurs; if new, a fast vent; and if stale, an open flabby one. The hen, if young, has smooth legs, and her flesh of a curious grain; if with egg, she will have a soft open vent, and if not, a close one. For newness and staleness, as the cock. IF new, they will be stiff and white in the vent, and the feet limber; if fat, they will have a hard vent; if stale, dry-footed and limber; and if touched, they will peel. Heath cock and hen. IF young, they have smooth legs and bills; and if old, rough. For the rest, they are known as the foregoing. THE bill white, and the legs bluish, shew age, for if young, the bill is black and the legs yellowish; if new, a fast vent; if stale, a green and open one. If their crops be full, and they have fed on green wheat, they may taint there; and for this smell in their mouth. THE woodcock, if fat, is thick and hard; if new, limber-footed; when stale, dry-footed; or if their noses are snotty, and their throats muddy and moorish, they are naught. A snipe, if fat, has a fat vent in the side under the wing, and in the vent feels thick; for the rest, like the woodcock. TO know the turtle dove, look for a bluish ring round his neck, and the rest mostly white; the stock-dove is bigger; and the ring-dove is less than the stock-dove. The dove-house pigeons, when old, are red legged; if new and fat, they will feel full and fat in the vent, and are limber-footed; but if stale, a flabby and green vent.

And so green or grey plover, fieldfare, blackbird, thrush, larks, &c.