fresh, and carefully
pluck, draw, and wash them; split the backs, rub the birds over with
butter, season them with pepper and salt, and broil them over a moderate
fire for 1/4 hour or 20 minutes. Serve very hot, with either
mushroom-sauce or a good gravy. Pigeons may also be plainly boiled, and
served with parsley and butter; they should be trussed like boiled
fowls, and take from 1/4 hour to 20 minutes to boil.

_Time_.--To broil a pigeon, from 1/4 hour to 20 minutes; to boil one,
the same time.

_Average cost_, from 6d. to 9d. each.

_Seasonable_ from April to September, but in the greatest perfection
from midsummer to Michaelmas.

THE POUTER PIGEON.--This is a very favourite pigeon, and,
without doubt, the most curious of his species. He is a tail
strong bird, as he had need be to carry about his great inflated
crop, frequently as large and as round as a middling-sized
turnip. A perfect pouter, seen on a windy day, is certainly a
ludicrous sight: his feathered legs have the appearance of white
trousers; his tapering tail looks like a swallow-tailed coat;
his head is entirely concealed by his immense windy
protuberance; and, altogether, he reminds you of a little
"swell" of a past century, staggering under a bale of linen. The
most common pouters are the blues, buffs, and whites, or an
intermixture of all these various colours. The pouter is not a
prolific breeder, is a bad nurse, and more likely to degenerate,
if not repeatedly crossed and re-crossed with Irish stock, than
any other pigeon: nevertheless, it is a useful bird to keep if
you are founding a new colony, as it is much attached to its
home, and little apt to stray; consequently it is calculated to
induce more restless birds to fettle down and make themselves
comfortable. If you wish to breed pouters, you cannot do worse
than intrust them with the care of their own eggs.

ROAST PIGEONS.

974. INGREDIENTS.--Pigeons, 3 oz. of butter, pepper and salt to taste.

_Trussing_.--Pigeons, to be good, should be eaten fresh (if kept a
little, the flavour goes off), and they should be drawn as soon as
killed. Cut off the heads and necks, truss the wings over the backs, and
cut off the toes at the first joint: previous to trussing, they should
be carefully cleaned, as no bird requires so much washing.

[Illustration: ROAST PIGEON.]

_Mode_.--Wipe the birds very dry, season them in