VEAL.]

916. As is the case with a loin of mutton, the careful jointing of a
loin of veal is more than half the battle in carving it. If the butcher
be negligent in this matter, he should be admonished; for there is
nothing more annoying or irritating to an inexperienced carver than to
be obliged to turn his knife in all directions to find the exact place
where it should be inserted in order to divide the bones. When the
jointing is properly performed, there is little difficulty in carrying
the knife down in the direction of the line 1 to 2. To each guest should
be given a piece of the kidney and kidney fat, which lie underneath, and
are considered great delicacies.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XX.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS.

"Birds, the free tenants of land, air, and ocean,
Their forms all symmetry, their motions grace;
In plumage delicate and beautiful;
Thick without burthen, close as fishes' scales,
Or loose as full-blown poppies to the breeze."

_The Pelican Island_.

917. THE DIVISIONS OF BIRDS are founded principally on their habits of
life, and the natural resemblance which their external parts, especially
their bills, bear to each other. According to Mr. Vigors, there are five
orders, each of which occupies its peculiar place on the surface of the
globe; so that the air, the forest, the land, the marsh, and the water,
has each its appropriate kind of inhabitants. These are respectively
designated as BIRDS OF PREY, PERCHERS, WALKERS, WADERS, and SWIMMERS;
and, in contemplating their variety, lightness, beauty, and wonderful
adaptation to the regions they severally inhabit, and the functions they
are destined to perform in the grand scheme of creation, our hearts are
lifted with admiration at the exhaustless ingenuity, power, and wisdom
of HIM who has, in producing them, so strikingly "manifested His
handiwork." Not only these, however, but all classes of animals, have
their peculiar ends to fulfil; and, in order that this may be
effectually performed, they are constructed in such a manner as will
enable them to carry out their conditions. Thus the quadrupeds, that are
formed to tread the earth in common with man, are muscular and vigorous;
and, whether they have passed into the servitude of man, or are
permitted to range the forest or the field, they still retain, in a high
degree, the energies with which they were originally endowed. Birds, on
the contrary, are gen