Plovers

This is a very nice bird, with a peculiar and pleasant flavor. They abound near our large bays and estuaries in the vicinity of the ocean. There are two sorts, the green plover and the gray. Roast them plain; basting them only with butter. Or fill them with a forcemeat, and go entirely over the outside, first with beaten egg, and then roll each plover in finely grated breadcrumbs.

If very fat, stew them plain in butter rolled in flour. Then serve them up in their own gravy, enriched with a beaten egg. They make a nice breakfast dish, either roasted or stewed. And are excellent in pies.

Reed Birds

Reed birds and rice birds are the same. They are very small, (only a mouthful on each side of the breast,) but very delicious, and immensely fat in the summer and autumn. They are brought to market with a lump of fat skewered on the outside, and are sold by the dozen strung on a stick like cherries.

To cook them, roast them on a bird-spit, basting with their own fat, as it drips. A nice way for retaining the whole flavor is to tie each bird closely in a vine leaf, and bake them in a dutch oven. Or wrap them in double vine leaves, and roast them in the ashes of a wood fire. Remove the vine leaves before the birds are dished.

Roasted Pigeons

Take fine fat tame pigeons, and clean and truss them nicely. Four pigeons, at least, are requisite to make a dish. Prepare a stuffing or forcemeat of finely minced veal, and an equal quantity of cold-boiled ham, seasoned with powdered mace and a very little cayenne. Also, two slices of bread and butter soaked in as much milk as they will absorb. Fill their bodies with this, (tying a string round to keep it in,) and roast the pigeons till thoroughly done; basting with fresh butter or lard.

Or you may stuff the pigeons with chopped mushrooms, seasoned with a little cayenne, and putting into each a piece of fresh butter rolled in flour.

Or you may stuff them with sweet potatos, boiled well, and mashed with plenty of fresh butter. Or with chestnuts, boiled, peeled, and mashed with butter.

Wild pigeons are generally too poor to roast. In places where they abound, it has been found very profitable to catch them in nets, clip their wings, and put them into inclosures, feeding them well with corn so as to make them fat. They will then bring as high a price as tame pigeons.