Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

For a dozen reed birds, allow a pint of coarse crumbs, half a cupful of fine bread crumbs, seven table-spoonfuls of butter, one teaspoonful of chopped parsley, and salt and pepper. Draw and wipe the birds, and draw the skin from the heads and necks. Cut off the feet, and press the legs into the bodies. Fasten the heads under the wings by pressing the bills into the bodies. When all the birds have been trussed, season them with salt and pepper, and roll them in three table-spoonfuls of melted butter, and then in the fine bread crumbs and chopped parsley. Place them on their backs on a tin plate or in a tin pan, and set them in a hot oven for five minutes. Have the coarse crumbs crisp and brown, and spread them upon a hot dish. Lay the birds upon this bed of crumbs, and pour over them the gravy from the pan in which they were roasted. Garnish with parsley, and serve immediately. To Prepare the Crumbs. — Cut a loaf of stale bread in two from the side, and grate on a coarse grater until the top and the bottom crusts have been reached (they can be dried and rolled for breading). Put the crumbs into a large dripping-pan, and place them in a moderate oven until they become dry. Be careful that they do not get very brown. Put four table-spoonfuls of butter into a large frying-pan, and when it is very hot, add the crumbs. Stir over a hot fire until they are golden brown and very crisp. The crumbs may be prepared at any time during the day, but they must be made very hot at servingtime. Barded and Roasted Snipe. Remove the crop, skin the head, take out the eyes, and draw the bird or not, as your taste dictates. Season with salt. Draw the head down to the feet. Wrap the bird in a thin slice of clear salt pork. Run a skewer through Barded Snipe. the bird to keep the pork (bard), head, and feet in position. Run from three to six birds on each skewer. Rub soft butter over the parts that are not covered with the pork, and dredge the whole bird with flour. Put as many small slices of toast on the bottom of a shallow cake-pan as there are snipe. Rest the ends of the skewers on the edges of the pan. Place in a very hot oven, and cook for ten minutes. On taking the pan from the oven, slip one snipe on each slice of toast. Serve immediately. Any small birds may be prepared in this manner. Jugged Rabbit. American wild rabbits are almost equal in flavor to the English hare, and may be prepared in the same manner. For six persons take two rabbits, an onion, two bay leaves, three cloves, half a dozen allspice, one table-spoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful of pepper, one table-spoonful of lemon juice, four table-spoonfuls of sherry, half a cupful of butter, four table-spoonfuls of flour, three cupfuls of water, one table-spoonful of mushroom ketchup. If port be preferred to sherry, use a gill. The dish will be good even if no wine be used.