[Illustration: ROAST BLACK-COCK.]
_Mode_.--Let these birds hang for a few days, or they will be tough and
tasteless, if not well kept. Pluck and draw them, and wipe the insides
and outsides with a damp cloth, as washing spoils the flavour. Cut off
the heads, and truss them, the same as a roast fowl, cutting off the
toes, and scalding and peeling the feet. Trussing them with the head on,
as shown in the engraving, is still practised by many cooks, but the
former method is now considered the best. Put them down to a brisk fire,
well baste them with butter, and serve with a piece of toast under, and
a good gravy and bread sauce. After trussing, some cooks cover the
breast with vine-leaves and slices of bacon, and then roast them. They
should be served in the same manner and with the same accompaniments as
with the plainly-roasted birds.
_Time_.--45 to 50 minutes.
_Average cost_, from 5s. to 6s. the brace; but seldom bought.
_Sufficient_,--2 or 3 for a dish.
_Seasonable_ from the middle of August to the end of December.
[Illustration: THE BLACK-COCK.]
THE BLACK-COCK, HEATH-COCK, MOOR-FOWL, OR HEATH-POULT.--This
bird sometimes weighs as much as four pounds, and the hen about
two. It is at present confined to the more northern parts of
Britain, culture and extending population having united in
driving it into more desolate regions, except, perhaps, in a few
of the more wild and less-frequented portions of England. It may
still be found in the New Forest, in Hampshire, Dartmoor, and
Sedgmoor, in Devonshire, and among the hills of Somersetshire,
contiguous to the latter. It may also be found in Staffordshire,
in North Wales, and again in the north of England; but nowhere
so plentiful as in some parts of the Highlands of Scotland. The
males are hardly distinguishable from the females until they are
about half-grown, when the black feathers begin to appear, first
about the sides and breast. Their food consists of the tops of
birch and heath, except when the mountain berries are ripe, at
which period they eagerly and even voraciously pick the
bilberries and cranberries from the bushes. Large numbers of
these birds are found in Norway, almost rivalling the turkey in
point of size. Some of them have begun to be imported into
London, where they are vended in the shops; but the flavour of
their flesh is not equal to that of the Scotch bird.
HASHED WILD DUCK.