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Poultry
Under this head are included domestic birds which are reared for the table, and for their eggs, feathers, etc. The poultry of this country are the common domestic fowl, the turkey, the duck, and the goose; to which some would add the guinea-fowl, and the peacock.
In the following table, drawn up by Dr. Kitchener, we have the particular seasons for various kinds of poultry and game:-- Poultry and Game. Come into Season. Continue. Cheapest. Chickens {Spring Chickens, April To be had through the year.} November. Poulardes with eggs} March Till June December. Fowls {Dearest in April, May, and June To be had through the year} November. Capons {Largest at Christmas Ditto {October and November. Green Geese March {Till September} Ditto. Geese September Till February Ditto. Turkey Poults April Till June Ditto. Turkeys September Till March Ditto. Ducklings March Till May Ditto. Ducks June Till February Ditto. Wild Ducks September Till Ditto {December; but the flights are uncertain. Widgeons Teal Plovers Larks November Till March Ditto. Wheatears July {And during August. Wild Pigeons March {Till September} August. Tame ditto Tame Rabbits -- All the year Wild ditto June Till February November. Sucking Pigs -- All the year Leverets March {Till September. Hares September Partridges Ditto Pheasants October Grouse August Moor Game Ditto Till March. Woodcock Snipes} November For the month of JANUARY.--Capons, poulardes, and fowls of all sizes; chickens, turkeys, larks, snipes; golden plovers are the best. The well-known plovers' eggs are those of the black plover. Woodcocks, tame pigeons, and squab pigeons, wild ducks, widgeons, teal, dun-birds, pintails (commonly called sea-pheasants). Tame rabbits every month alike. FEBRUARY--All kinds of poultry peculiar to January may be had in this month (wild fowl upon the decline), guinea-fowl, green geese, ducklings, etc. MARCH--Guinea-fowl, etc. etc. etc., same as the preceding months (the March flight of wild fowl is generally known). Turkey poults, turkeys, wild fowl (these may be obtained, but are out of season).
APRIL.--Same as March, spring chickens (no wild fowl). MAY, JUNE.--Quails, pea-fowls, guinea-fowls, turkey poults, ducklings; geese are considered to be prime in these months; chickens to be had every month in the year. Plovers' eggs come in season the beginning of April, and continue till the 5th or 6th of June. Wild rabbits in this month. JULY--The same as June, ruffs and reeves.
AUGUST--Fine Essex ducks are good this month; quails are good till game is in season. Other things the same as July.
SEPTEMBER.--Turkeys, game, ducks and geese, fowls and chickens, pigeons, rabbits, wild and tame.
OCTOBER.--Pheasants, etc. etc. etc., same as September. NOVEMBER.--All kinds of wild fowl; guinea-fowls come in this month, turkeys of all sizes.
DECEMBER.--Wild fowl of every description; the largest turkeys and capons, and almost all other kinds of poultry, to be had in perfection this month. Fowls and chickens to be had every day in the year.
Fowls which are fattened artificially are by some epicures preferred to those called barn-door fowls: indeed, we have heard such folk say, that they should as soon think of ordering a barn-door for dinner as a barn-door fowl. The age of poultry makes all the difference--nothing is tenderer than a young chicken; few things are tougher than an old cock or hen, which is only fit to make broth. The meridian of perfection of poultry is just before they have come to their full growth, before they have begun to harden. Fowls must be killed a couple of days in moderate and more in cold weather before they are cooked, or they will eat tough; a good criterion of the ripeness of poultry for the spit is the ease with which you can then pull out the feathers: when a fowl is plucked leave a few to help you to ascertain this. "It is sometimes taken for granted by writers on this subject," says one author, "that all the birds which can be domesticated with advantage have already been domesticated. The assumption is quite gratuitous, and it might as well be asserted that improvement had reached its utmost in any other direction. The concurrent supposition that the common domesticated kinds were given to man at first as domestic is likewise unsupported by evidence, although the domestication of some of our poultry birds must be referred to a very early date. Among the Anatidae some progress has recently been made in the domestication of new kinds; and a beginning may even be said to have been made as to some additional gallinaceous birds."