in-ash berries are often found. These give the
bird a peculiar and rather bitter flavour, but the berry that must be
used in the cooking is that of the juniper plant, which grows very
plentifully in Belgium. A traveller through Belgium in the summer or
early autumn should always make a point of ordering _grives_ at a good
restaurant. When _grives_ go out of season, we have woodcock and snipe;
and there are several houses which make a speciality of _Becasses a la
fine Champagne_. At Mons and at Liege, and I think at Charleroi also,
there is every year a woodcock feast, just as there is an oyster feast
at Colchester. At these festivities a little wax candle is placed on the
table beside each guest, so that he can take the head of his _becasse_
and frizzle it in the flame before he attacks its brains. Then we have
plovers and larks in any quantity, but I would not like to vouch for
what are often served as _alouettes_ and _mauviettes_. The one bird that
we never get in Belgium is grouse, unless it is brought over specially
from England or Scotland. It has always been found impossible to rear
grouse in the country. In the neighbourhood of Spa there are great
stretches of moorlands reaching almost to the German frontier, covered
with heather, which look as if they would be the ideal home of the
grouse. Here M. Barry Herrfeldt, of the Chateau du Marteau at Spa, a
real good sportsman, has tried his very utmost to rear grouse; first he
laid down thousands of eggs and set them under partridges, but this
proved a failure; then he introduced young birds, but they all died off,
and I think he has now given up the attempt in despair. Whilst speaking
of partridges, I ought to mention that there is no partridge in the
world so plump and sweet as one shot in the neighbourhood of Louvain,
where they feed on the beetroot cultivated for the sugar factories. At a
restaurant _Coq de bruyere_ is often served as grouse, but this is a
blackcock. One last note: outside the capital and at all but the best
restaurants the Flemish custom is to "dine" in the middle of the day and
"sup" at about seven.

Antwerp

It is strange that a big city and seaport like Antwerp, which is a
favourite stopping place of English and American visitors to the
Continent, should have so few good restaurants. None of the
establishments near the quays can be classed as even third-rate, and it
is in the neighbourhood of the Bourse that the best eating-houses will
be f