TO DRESS SNIPES.
1047. INGREDIENTS.—Snipes, butter, flour, toast.
Mode.—These, like woodcocks, should be dressed without being drawn. Pluck, and wipe them outside, and truss them with the head under the wing, having previously skinned that and the neck. Twist the legs at the first joint, press the feet upon the thighs, and pass a skewer through these and the body. Place four on a skewer, tie them on to the jack or spit, and roast before a clear fire for about 1/4 hour. Put some pieces of buttered toast into the dripping-pan to catch the trails; flour and froth the birds nicely, dish the pieces of toast with the snipes on them, and pour round, but not over them, a little good brown gravy. They should be sent to table very hot and expeditiously, or they will not be worth eating.—See coloured plate M1.
[Illustration: ROAST SNIPE.]
Time.—About 1/4 hour. Average cost, 1s. 6d. to 2s. the brace.
Sufficient,—4 for a dish.
Seasonable from November to February.
Note.—Ortolans are trussed and dressed in the same manner.
[Illustration: THE SNIPE.]
THE SNIPE.—This is a migratory bird, and is generally distributed over Europe. It is found in most parts of England, in the high as well as the low lands, depending much on the weather. In very wet seasons it resorts to the hills, but at other times frequents marshes, where it can penetrate the earth with its bill, hunting for worms, which form its principal food. In the Hebrides and the Orkneys snipes are plentiful, and they are fattest in frosty weather. In the breeding season the snipe changes its note entirely from that which it has in the winter. The male will keep on wing for an hour together, mounting like a lark, and uttering a shrill piping noise; then, with a bleating sound, not unlike that made by an old goat, it will descend with great velocity, especially if the female be sitting in her nest, from which it will not wander far.