River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1894-12-20
TIE MUD HEN.
A Good Word for an Oft-Despised Bird
LIS Mcrif Ennd.

Its Merit Food.
In the fall of 1855 l was hunter,
trapper and lead miner by turns, at
PotOsi, Grant county, Wis. and there
shot my first mud hen. a bird which
had not met in my boyhood shooting
in the east. After looking it over, and
by dissection finding it was a grain
eater, with the appearance of an over
grown rail, except its half-webbed
feet l took it home and cooked it.
Then and there il was voted that as
a table duck il took fifth rank among
the water fowl that fell 20 my gun, in
the following order: Mallard, wood
duck. green and blue-winged teal 1t
took precedence, thought. of pintails,
black ducks, bluebills and all the hosts
of other ducks that swarmed down the
Mississippi, not excepting the canvas
backs and redheads. which, as / re-
member. do not attain the excellence
there that they do in Chesapeake bay.
The natives about foIosi soon learned
that had eaten this bird that they
would not touch on account of tradi-
ton, and they guyed NE numerically
about it; but knew that the birds
were delicious, and kept on eating
them.
The slow flying mud hen, or ''blue
peter" as it is called about Curritucl1
sound, may not be a bird that calls
forth all the marksman's skill, and it
may have a lively sale in the markets
where people are shy of buying any
sort of food they are not familiar with,
but it is good table bird, and have
bought many in the New York markets
during the past ten years, and have
found them of varying degrees of ex-
cellence. Some were not as good as
others, and had no means of learning
where they came from or what they
had fed upon.
In Kansas, in 1857, after I stopped
shooting turkeys in early spring be-
cause of the approaching brt eGing sea-
son, there was a flight of these mud
hens, and they furnished me meat for
some days, until the rains brought the
siskle-bill curlew, and after them tie
spring run of fish, and ! remember the
despised mud hen with the kindliest of
feeling. and, therefore, dislike to hear
it disrsepectfully spoken of as a table
bird, no matter what its rank as game
may be. / firmly believe that this bird
has been refused a place at the table
because our grandfathers did not like
its semipalmated feet and said: 1T is
not fit to eat" This same ban to-day
bars the sturgeon from the tables of
the fishermen of Connecticut, while it
remains the royal favorite of Britain 5
queen. who has the first-caught stur-
geon from the Thames sent to her
table; and it is the same unreasoning
prejudice that foIbids cells, skates.
sculpins and other wholesome and
toothsome fish TO appear on certain
tables
Prejudice is a thing well worth the
attention of those who study that most
singular animal that we call man.
He is full of it, and mainly by inherit
ance. For years / claimed TO be free
from it, and as a member of the de-
funct, or dormant, Icthyophagous club,
we ate of the usual aquatic food and
tried to disgust our friends with
strange sea food, but in the solitude OF
my den ! find that a severe cross-ques-
tioning develops the fact that, while
have ca zen of shark outlets, squids ra-
zor CLANS, fried sand worms. and other
queer things, ] have never had the
courage to taste tripe.
The mud hen is a bird that lives
chiefly upon seeds and is a very clean
feeder, and is therefore fitted for the
table. / had six of them in my flock
of wild fowl for about three years and
noted their habits They were very
fond of corn, wheat and other grains
but they never bred. and fell one by
one before the ruthless mink, and to.
day they abide not with me. They are
interesting birds in confinement, and
can run like deer when pinioned,
| and II wood duck, teal or pintail
crosses their bows, one stroke of that
sharp beak is sufficient to impress upon
it that it must not let it occur again
Fred. Mathr in Forest and Stream.
SERGEANT -"Meier, just imagine yourself
TO be standing sentry at the OGtpOsts one
evening Suddenly figure approaches you
from behind, and YOU feel yourself clasped
by pair of powerful arms. What call will
you given Soldier" Come, Marie, let me
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