to a guest save on those occasions when there are more guests present
than there is meat from breasts and wings to offer them. Under these
circumstances the carver is reduced to the necessity of falling back
upon the legs of the birds, but in this case only the upper part of the
thigh should be given, thus a guest has little difficulty in cutting the
meat from the bone. A wing of a bird is usually given to a lady.
Formerly it was thought a correct thing to sever the wing at the joint
and then to cut the meat from the bone; but this requires a certain
amount of strength in the wrist, and dexterity, should the bird not be
in its _premiere jeunesse_.

As regards small pigeons, golden plovers, snipe, quails, larks, etc., a
whole bird is given to each guest, and the proper way to eat these birds
is to cut the meat from the breast and wings and to eat each morsel at
the moment of cutting it; the bird should not be turned over and over on
the plate, or cut in half or otherwise dissected. The legs of Bordeaux
pigeons are not, as a rule, eaten, and half a bird only is given, as
there is sufficient on the wing and breast to satisfy an ordinary
second-course appetite. When the legs of smaller birds are eaten, such
as snipe or golden plover, the meat should be cut off as from the breast
or wing.

Young girls, as a rule, seldom eat a second course delicacy of this
description; a little chicken or pheasant on the contrary is usually
accepted by them.

* * * * *

=When large potatoes are served= in their skins a salad-plate should be
handed at the same time whereon to place them.

* * * * *

=When asparagus first comes into season= it is often given in the second
course instead of in the first, in which case it is eaten as a separate
dish. When handed with meat or poultry it should be eaten on the same
plate containing either.

In eating asparagus, some elderly gentlemen still adhere to the fashion
of their youth and hold the stalks in their fingers, but the younger
generation cut off the points with a knife and fork.

Seakale also is given in the second course when first in season, and
should be eaten with a knife and fork.

Mushrooms are also eaten with a knife and fork.

It need hardly be said that it would be a vulgarity to eat peas with a
knife, although those who reside abroad, or who are in the habit of
travelling on the continent, are not unaccustomed t