The morning times., 1895-11-10
Washington's Game Market and
How 1t Is Supplied.
FROM PRAIRIE AND FOREST
Duck and Other Wild Fowl Supplied
by the Chesapeake and Potomac.
NenisOn from the PIains-Where
the Grouse and Quail Come
From.

Hcot VI u lew spfIBS Oh parsley. 1efiidps
you would prefer Bordeaux SQUAD as
brown as the piece OF toast beside it, and
which Monsieur Chef Will delight to ar
Grange Just as he was taught before he
left home to come across the waters to
cook for you.
be it what it viii, the game markets of
Washington have 1t and it can be obtained
but for the asking. OF course, a pecuniary
consideration must be given as an indi-
cation Of good faith, but that is a second
airy matter TO the modern Epicurus.
Just as the oyster makes his annual debut
as the September "r'' begins to glow on
the calendar, so the fatted game bird nd
f, quadruped prepare themselves for the
! slaughter. Their season is OF about equal
I duration as that of their distant bivalvular
cousin, too. and it is only the representa-
| tive of the feathered tribe that has been
| branded as unpaiatable that can assume
an air OF independence after October l.
The crackle OF the underDrush, the fall
OF the trap, the report OF the gun and the
| mulfled stroke of the oar have all broken
the marsh s stiffness for more than a month
| now, ana the SAME sounds will be heard
until nearly April Fools Day.
! As a result the cold storage boxes in
the game dealers stands and the green
grocers' counters are 1illed fall and piled
high with the 1eathered bodies that are
numbered among the daiuties of the menu.
ANYTHING YOU WANT.
Almost every bird To be found in the
market this winter is there now, and it is
not uninteresting to know what Washing
tonians eat, that is. Washingtonian who
live in mansions or in the palatial uptown
hotels, for it is only the names or these
that appear each week on the game dealers
order book.
The jao ksnipe and ell of his cousins
probably lead in point OF number. They
all belong TO the suction family. That
means, the game sellers say, that their
anatomy is SO shaped that they get their
daily food by suction. They all have long
bills. That OF the lacksnipe himself is
on an average two and d half inches in
length. When his snIpeship feels the pangs
OF hunger growing over him he fiutters
TO a n2arshy soil and thrusts the long,
needle-lIke bill into tie soft earth.
In this manner he draws insects and
worms from the ground. He comes from
the neighboring fields Of Virginia and
Mary land.
All the plovers belong to the same fam
lily, though they have scarcely as lengthy
bills. Nearly all the family are found in
this vicinity, and include the common ployer,
the golden ployer, the silt ployer. so called
because of his legs that look not unlike
the lightning rods OF Chicago office build
ing, and the common flock plovcr. Then
there is Southern brother named from his
native sand-strewD heath, the Florida
plover, while the curlew plover haiis from
the free and spacious West.
DAINTY SNIPE AND PLOyER.
The sandpiper claims kinship with the
above, and points with pride TO the fact
that after his term of animate usefulness
Is 1t an end be viii make every whit as
enjoyable a dish as his neighbors. He is
as partial to the seashore as the summer
girl, and may always be found at home in
marine marshes. The Wilson and gray snipe
and the woodcocs also are heirs OF tue same
characteristics as the others.
The autograph of the last named bird is
one OF the most common on the menu card.
II is particularly partial to the thickest
underwood Its eyes are large and set far
back in a flat head, that makes the bird
as stupid looking as 1t really is on its
native hazeibush.
Pheasants and their near relations come
from almost everywhere On the same
cake of ice on which the body OF a member
of one OF the best biooded Virginia Bob
Whites reposes will doubtless lay that OF
foreigner, from Brazil or Europe, for those
from those two countries are most in
demand.
The mountain grouse. the Swedish pleas
ant, the Norway barthulican, the prairie
chicken, the cock OF the plains, and squads
all come under the pheasant family's es-
cutcheon.
They are all rasorial birds, which the
game men say means that they have feath-
cred feet and scratch in the earth for in
sects and seeds. The chicken is of the same
household, but he has become in manner
estranged by taking on some OF the habits
of civilization.
The Norway bartbolican is a bird calcu-
lated to receive honorable mention at a
beauty show. 1t is pure white and hides in |
Scandinavian SHOWS. The cock Of the |
plains is marked by white stripe down |
the side like the water line on q cruiser, |
and struts about with as much self-respect |
as the gobbler aristocrat of the barn yard. |
SUPPLY OF SQUADS.
Squads, which every one knows, are
pigeons that have been pre- ordained to be |
cut off in the innocence of their youth, |
come from Alexandria, and are called ma
tive from Pennsylvania, and are called |
Philadelphia, or from Bordeaux, France,
and are called choice. They are in season |
throughout the year.
There is anotherlarge and interesting fam
lily, distinguished by its webbed Trilbies.
All the duck, from the time honored canvas
find covered with something like Defender |
sailcloth, down to the spoonbill with a
mouth like a pair of swinging doors, come
under this head. The Potomac and the
Chesapeake are favorite haunts of these
fowls, and the vast majority of those in
the market come from these waters.
They are all cousins, wheth er they be the
plump, stripped widgeon. the retired and
pleasure seeking mallard. the red-neck, the
sprigtaL, the barduck, the green-winged
and blue-winged teal, the tiny teal, the crow
duck and the poachard, that so closely re-
sembles the canvas back. Black heads and
rook ducks rank along with the rest and
only the connoisseur in the arts of the
table is able to tell in most cases one from
another.
There Is a difference in the price: all go |
by the pair, but as said before, the con-
sideration is not important to the steady |
patron of the game counter.
The smaller birds are all retailed by the
the dozen. One of the most priced is the
ortolan, with an extremely delicate flavor.
He comes of French ancestry. By his side |
in the frigid air of the storage chest lies
the white, picked body of the blackbird, that |
has been stuffing himself all season in |
order to make the better showing on a bit
Of China in November. He is a native of
the neighboring counties of Maryland and
the Old Dominion.
REED BIRD AND ORToLAN.
Strewn all around the two and packed In
[ne corners ol tne cnest ls the reed bird. |
That is, he is the reed bird just at present,
but he changes his name annually as many
times as the average operatic star In a half
dozen seasons. When he grows tired of
being the reed bird and fattening among
he reeds of the Lower Chesapeake, he
becomes the bobolink and rice bird in time
and then takes sea voyage over to the Ber-
nudas.
The change of air is so agreeable to him
II,o fbA |
man and styles himself the butter bird. He
Is more or less priced as a table delicacY |