Of the pice, some of the macaws have been eaten; but the flesh is hard, dry, and indigestible: those, however, which feed on vegetable substances, must be excepted. The psittacus pertinax., for instance, the yellow-faced parroquet, and the p. jaguilma and cyanoly-seos, two species observed by Molina, in Chili, have been used as food; the last are said to be delicious. The buceros hydrocoraxoi the Molucca Islands, which feeds on nutmegs, has been considered as a delicate high flavoured food. One species of the wattle bird, the glacopis cinerea Lin. is mentioned by Dr. Foster as edible; and many persons are fond of the young of the corvus frugilegus, the rook: yet their colour and flavour must be rendered less disgusting, by previously soaking them in milk. It is indeed doubtful whether this species of corvus really feeds on corn; the more L probably devour the larvae of insects, raised by the plough; but some other species certainly feed on grain, though we find only the chough or Alpine crow, c. pyrrhocorax Lin. reckoned among the foods. Among the rollers, the European species, coracias garrula Lin. is only eaten; but of the oriolus many species have been employed as food. As the greater number feed on grain, we may find the edible species numerous. Among the other picae, we perceive only the golden woodpecker, the picus auratus Lin. and a species of alcedo, a. galbula, recommended as eatable. The acci-pitres have never been employed as aliment; but some of the shrikes, which feed on grain, and resemble the picae in their manners, may perhaps afford wholesome nourishment.

The amphibia approach, in their digestible nature, the younger animals of the mammalia and aves; yet the more luscious and fatty parts render them sometimes gross, and not easily assimilated. The muscular flesh of the turtle and tortoise is not unlike veal; their tendons, ligaments, and fat, are more indigestible. Different species of the testudo are employed as food; among which the green turtle, and the ferocious tortoise of America, are the most delicate; and the t. ca-retta the driest and worst flavoured. The land tortoise is neither a very delicate nor easily digestible food, though it has not been employed in its best state. Of the lizards, the crocodile is said to be,eaten by the Moors, but we know not the nature of its meat: its eggs are well flavoured and digestible. The eggs of the guana, the l. iguana, are said to have no yolk, and not to be coagulated by heat. The meat is digestible, and, in the opinion of some authors, preferable to fowl. The viper has been reckoned an easily assimilated and a nourishing food: its broth has been consequently employed as a restorative after fevers. It is probably an easily digestible substance, or it would not so long have maintained its credit; and it may now be lost rather from varying fashions than any inconvenience resulting from it. The buffalo snake, boa constrictor, is enumerated among the edible amphibia; but its peculiar nature is not mentioned. It probably does not greatly differ from the viper. The frog is well known to be a light, digestible food, and greatly to resemble delicate veal. The green lizard, laccrta agilis, is not greatly different. We may here mention a gelatinous esculent substance, which, though the work of a bird, is probably derived from some of the lower orders of animated nature; we mean the nest of the hirundo e8-culenta. It is found in the East India islands, particularly in the caverns near the sea, and is gelatinous, indeed peculiarly rich and luscious; nor have we heard that it creates uneasiness or indigestion.

The sea insects may be next arranged, as they seem to be easily digestible, and occasion less uneasiness than even the lighter kinds of fish. They have been accused of exciting febrile heat and efflorescence on the skin; but these are probably accidental effects from the food they take in. We have found them, in general, light and nourishing. The only sea insects eaten are the species of cancer: yet the lobsters, craw fish, prawns, and shrimps, should be separated from the crabs, probably in a scientific, certainly in a dietetic, view. The crab affords a very digestible food; the others are less easy in the stomach. Next to the crab are the shrimp, the white shrimp, and the prawn, the c. crangon, squilla, and serratus. The lobster is richer as a food (C. gam-marus); and the craw fish still more rich.

The marine -vermes are also albuminous and glutinous. They are easy of digestion only in their raw state; for when heated the albumen is coagulated, and not easily assimilated. The oyster and the cockle are the most easy. The muscle, mytilus edulis, is next in the order: this animal is suspicious, from the accidents which have followed its use. These are not well understood, and may arise from the habit of the person affected; for, in some constitutions, even the white of an egg boiled will occasion sickness and efflorescence: but it is more probable that the muscle occasionally feeds on a deleterious insect, which is the real poison. It is, on this account, probably safer to avoid it. The queen is more rich, and the scallop, ostrea chama, too luscious for weak stomachs. The borer, pholas dacty- lus, the limpet, the sea apple, echinus esculentus, and two species of sepia, the cuttle and stocking fish, are seldom employed as food, and resemble, in their nature, the cockle, though more dry and coriaceous; at some seasons indigestible. Of the terrestrial vermes, we eat only the snail, as a mild nutriment: several species have been eaten in hectic cases, with little apparent advantage or inconvenience.

In a dietetic view, fish are of two kinds, which we may denominate from the most common instances - the whiting and the turbot kind. The flakes of the former are firm and dry; those of the latter more luscious and fat, or more tender and watery. We cannot pursue this distinction through the whole tribe of esculent fish, but shall thus arrange the more common kinds; adding the others, whose qualities are less known, in a more indiscriminate list.