SUGGESTIONS FOR THE SELECTION OF POULTRY AND GAME.—­The first care in the selection of poultry should be its freedom from disease.  Birds deprived of exercise, shut up in close cages, and regularly stuffed with as much corn or soft food as they can swallow, may possess the requisite fatness, but it is of a most unwholesome character.  When any living creature ceases to exercise, its excretory organs cease to perform their functions thoroughly, and its body becomes saturated with retained excretions.

A stall-fed fowl may be recognized by the color of its fat, which is pale white, and lies in thick folds beneath the skin along the lower half of the backbone.  The entire surface of the body presents a more greasy, uninviting appearance than that of fowls permitted to live under natural conditions.

Never purchase fowls which have been sent to the market undrawn.  All animals intended for use as food should be dressed as quickly as possible after killing.  Putrefactive changes begin very soon after death, and the liver and other viscera, owing to their soft texture and to the quantity of venous blood they retain, advance rapidly in decomposition.  When a fowl or animal is killed, even if the large arteries at the throat are cut, a large quantity of blood remains in and around the intestines, owing to the fact that only through the capillaries of the liver can the blood in the portal system find its way into the large vessels which convey it to the heart, and which at death are cut off from the general circulation at both ends by a capillary system.  This leaves the blood-vessels belonging to the portal circulation distended with venous blood, which putrefies very quickly, forming a virulent poison.  The contents of the intestines of all creatures are always in a more or less advanced state of putrescence, ready to undergo rapid decomposition as soon as the preservative action of the intestinal fluids ceases.  It will readily be seen, then, that the flesh of an undrawn fowl must be to a greater or less degree permeated with the poisonous gases and other products of putrefaction, and is certainly quite unfit for food.

Young fowls have soft, yellow feet, a smooth, moist skin, easily torn with a pin, wings which will spring easily, and a breastbone which will yield to pressure.  Pinfeathers are an indication of a young bird; older fowls are apt to have sharp scales, long hairs, long, thin necks, and flesh with a purplish tinge.

Poultry should be entirely free from disagreeable odors.  Methods are employed for sweetening fowls which have been kept too long in market, but if they need such attention, bury them decently rather than cook them for the table.

Turkeys should have clear, full eyes, and soft, loose spurs.  The legs of young birds are smooth and black; those of older ones, rough and reddish.

Geese and ducks, when freshly killed, have supple feet.  If young, the windpipe and beak can be easily broken by pressure of the thumb and forefinger.  Young birds also have soft, white fat, tender skin, yellow feet, and legs free from hairs.