admired hue.
Occasionally, the white ones have red eyes, like those of the
ferret and the white rabbit. Their flesh, although eatable, is
decidedly unfit for food; they have been tasted, however, we
presume by some enthusiast eager to advance the cause of
science, or by some eccentric epicure in search of a new
pleasure for his palate. Unless it has been that they deter rats
from intruding within the rabbit-hutch, they are as useless as
they are harmless. The usual ornament of an animal's hind
quarters is denied them; and were it not for this fact, and also
for their difference in colour, the Shaksperean locution, "a rat
without a tail," would designate them very properly.

[Illustration: THE CYGNET.]

998. THE CYGNET.--The Cygnet, or the young Swan, was formerly
much esteemed; but it has "fallen from its high estate," and is
now rarely seen upon the table. We are not sure that it is not
still fattened in Norwich for the corporation of that place.
Persons who have property on the river there, take the young
birds, and send them to some one who is employed by the
corporation, to be fed; and for this trouble he is paid, or was
wont to be paid, about half a guinea a bird. It is as the future
bird of elegance and grace that the young swan is mostly
admired; when it has become old enough to grace the waters, then
it is that all admire her, when she with
"Arched neck,
Between her white wings mantling,
proudly rows
Her state with oary feet."

POULTRY CARVING.

ROAST DUCK.

[Illustration: ROAST DUCK.]

999. No dishes require so much knowledge and skill in their carving as
do game and poultry; for it is necessary to be well acquainted with the
anatomy of the bird and animal in order to place the knife at exactly
the proper point. A tough fowl and an old goose are sad triers of a
carver's powers and temper, and, indeed, sometimes of the good humour of
those in the neighbourhood of the carver; for a sudden tilt of the dish
may eventuate in the placing a quantity of the gravy in the lap of the
right or left-hand supporter of the host. We will endeavour to assist
those who are unacquainted with the "gentle art of carving," and also
those who are but slightly acquainted with it, by simply describing the
rules to follow, and referring to the distinctly-marked Illustrations of
each dish, which