Prepare them as usual; dip each bird in flour and shake them; sprinkle with salt. Have a kettle with smoking lard; try it with a piece of bread, if it colors brown in one-half minute it is ready, if not wait and try again. When it is hot enough drop the birds in; they will cool the lard, therefore don't put in more than six at a time; three minutes will cook them; try the lard before putting in more. Have ready as many rounds of bread as you have birds, soaked in egg and milk - two eggs to half a pint; drain each piece and drop them into the hot fat; take them up when pale brown and lay a bird on each.

If the fire is good and the fat deep enough (there should be two to three pounds in the kettle), a dozen birds and a dozen rounds of bread will take less than twenty minutes, and make a most delicious dish,

Epicures prefer that woodcock and snipe should not be drawn, but the entrails - otherwise the "trail" - be caught on toast laid under them in cooking.