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Our markets contain an abundant supply of poultry and game of an exceptionally fine quality. For superior and palatable chickens we are recommended to those raised about the creameries of New Jersey. The hand-fed geese and ducks of Rhode Island rival in flavor and delicacy the celebrated Caneton-de-Rouen, while the American turkeys are famous the world over. To give any adequate idea of the quantity of game which comes from the vast feeding-grounds of this country, or to enumerate substantially every form in which, during the different seasons, game appears in market, would require too much space.

No game is more highly prized or more eagerly sought after in Europe than our American canvas-back ducks, grouse and wild turkeys. It has become part of our history that during the late war twenty thousand turkeys were shipped by one firm in New York City to supply a Thanksgiving dinner to an army; while at present so plentiful is the supply that but a few days would be required to secure double that number.

Near Rhode Island, on one farm of about fifty acres, twenty thousand geese, and as many ducks, are fattened annually for market. In Vermont and other cold localities during December, when turkeys are full grown and fattest, hundreds of tons of them are dressed, frozen hard in boxes, and preserved in that condition for use in the spring and summer months; when freshly killed, turkeys are tough and unpalatable. Unless well experienced, the purchaser would do better to leave the selection of poultry and game to some reliable dealer, rather than depend upon “signs,” which are at times deceiving.

Spring chickens appear in market about May; those hatched in incubators come somewhat earlier. They are very small, weighing about a pound each, and improve in flavor and richness as they increase in size. Tender chickens may be had almost the whole year, but they are not plentiful during the spring months.

Capons are good from December until April.

Young turkeys are first killed in September; they are full grown and fattest in December, and remain good until spring, when they are superseded by frozen turkeys.

Geese and ducks are first brought to market in June, and, if they have been properly fed, are a great delicacy. They may be had through the summer, autumn, and winter months. Geese are called “green” until they are three or four months old.

Guinea-fowls are best in summer and autumn, when young and fat.

Squabs are in market the whole year.

The laws for killing and selling game vary somewhat in the different States, and sometimes in the different counties of the same State. Reference is made principally in regard to the New York City markets. So great are the facilities for forwarding quickly by rail and steamer, that supplies of game are easily obtained from long distances; and birds killed in southern Texas, or other remote places, may be served perfectly fresh on New York tables a few days later. The flight of birds is greatly controlled by the weather. An early or late season, or a wet or dry one, or even a cold wave, may hasten or retard them, and make game plentiful or scarce, fat or poor; but an abundant supply of all kinds of game in its best condition is generally to be had in the months it is in season, as follows:

Ruffed grouse, commonly called partridges, are in season from September 1 to February 1.

Pinnated grouse, commonly called prairie-chickens, from September 1 to February 1.

Quails, from November 1 to February 1.

Woodcock are in the market from August 1 to February 1, and are fattest in October.

English snipe appear in the spring, and again in the autumn, when they are in their best condition, and are to be had in smaller quantities during the winter.

Yellow-legged snipe, robin or red-breasted snipe, dowicher and black-breasted or winter snipe, also common snipe, are abundant in the spring, and again from July through October, when they are best.

Upland, grass, or gray plover are in market through the spring and summer months, and are fattest in August and September.

Doe-birds are to be had at about the same time. They are plover of a larger size, and are considered not inferior to any other.

Golden plover, or frost-birds, are plentiful in the spring, and are in fine condition in September and October.

Sora, or Virginia rail, are best in September and October.

Reed-birds, or rice-birds, become very fat in August and September. When found among the reeds of New Jersey they are called reed-birds, and rice-birds when from the wild rice-fields of the South.

Rabbits and hares are in season from November 1 to February 1.

Venison is in market from August 1 to January 1 only, and is good during that time.

Antelope may be generally had through the autumn and winter months.

Wild pigeons appear in the spring and autumn, but no longer in such immense numbers as formerly. It is only possible to obtain them for market when their “nestings” are near a railroad, which facilitates their quick shipment. The young birds (wild squabs), taken from the nest, make a most delicious broil.

Wild ducks, swan, geese, and brant are in season from September 1 to May 1. The choicest of these are: canvas-back, mallard, teal, red-head, widgeon, wood, brant, cygnet or young swan, goose when young and fat.

English pheasants, English hares, and Scotch grouse are to be found in the New York markets in excellent condition during the winter months.

The wild mongrel goose, which appears in our markets about Christmas-time, is, like the canvas-back duck, considered as one of the greatest luxuries, and exclusively American.

The far-famed canvas-back duck is also an exclusively North American species. Closely resembling in appearance and habits the red-head of America and the pochard of Europe, it is still quite distinct from and superior to both these species in the excellence of its flesh. It is found throughout North America, from the Arctic Ocean to Central America, on the interior waters and on both shores. Chesapeake Bay is the most noted ground for canvas-back ducks in the country, but they are especially abundant in Southern California. They breed on the ponds, rivers, and lakes, from Oregon to the more extreme northern portions of the continent. The canvas-back is without doubt the most sought after and widely known of all our ducks, and in localities where it can obtain the root of the Vallisneria spiralis (called by some tape-grass, and by others, incorrectly, wild celery), the food to which it owes the peculiarly delicate flavor for which it is so famous. As a highly prized delicacy, it stands without a rival. When, however, it is obliged to content itself with a diet chiefly of animal food, or is not properly handled in the kitchen, it becomes merely a very ordinary table bird. The Vallisneria is not found on the Pacific Coast, but in many parts of the interior, and especially in the Chesapeake Bay. The canvas-back being an excellent and strong diver, brings from the bottom the Vallisneria by the roots; these it bites off and swallows, while the red-head, black-head, and other ducks feed on the refuse grass, or occasionally a root snatched from the canvas-back. At times the water is covered with grass thus pulled up. By the middle of December the canvas-back becomes so fat as to have been known to burst open in the breast in falling on the water. In New Orleans it is called “canard cheval.” The canvas-back is covered somewhat like the red-head, but there is no reason for the confusion which exists in the minds of so many people regarding the two species. A careful comparison of the following descriptions of the two birds will indicate well-marked differences by which they may always be distinguished. The cook of a Buffalo gentleman, when asked if she knew the difference between a red-head and a canvas-back replied, “To be sure! one has the head of a fool!” (meaning the canvas-back).

CANVAS-BACK.

Feathers of the head short and smooth. Male with head and neck of deep chestnut color, the former sometimes quite blackish. Fore parts of body, wings and tail, black, under parts white; back and sides whitish, waved with black, but the white predominates, and the black lines are faint and much broken up. Female everywhere duller in color than the male.

Bill entirely greenish-black, longer than head, nearly as long as middle toe (without claw), narrow, high at base, and nostrils medium.

Iris red.

The weight of a pair of good fat canvas-back ducks with feathers on will average six pounds.

RED-HEAD.

Feathers of the head rather long, giving it a puffy appearance.

Male with head and neck chestnut red. Fore parts of body, wings and tail, black, under parts white; back and sides whitish, waved with black, the dark waved lines unbroken. Female everywhere duller in color than the male.

Bill dull blue, with a black belt across the end, shorter than the head, shorter than the middle toe (without claw), broad, depressed; nostrils within its basal half. Always to be distinguished from other ducks by shape of the bill.

Iris yellow.

The weight of a pair of good fat red-head ducks with feathers on will average five pounds.

The red-head duck is found in greater or less numbers throughout North America, on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, breeding in high northern latitudes, and frequenting in winter the southern portions of the continent as far as Mexico. The red-head is not common on the coasts of New England. During the winter months it abounds considerably along the south shore of Long Island, and is extremely abundant from this point south, especially at Chesapeake Bay and Currituck. Its flesh is excellent, and when it is enabled to feed on the well-known Vallisneria is almost fully equal in point of flavor to that of the canvas-back. The diet of the red-head is by preference vegetable, but in default of a sufficiency of food of this nature, they will, like other ducks, eat frogs, tadpoles, and various mollusks. In the West they feed largely on corn and wheat, which they glean from the fields, and on wild oats, the seed of the water-lily, and roots and leaves of other aquatic plants.