At these festivities a little wax candle is placed on the
table beside each guest, so that he can take the head of his _becasse_
and frizzle it in the flame before he attacks its brains. Then we have
plovers and larks in any quantity, but I would not like to vouch for
what are often served as _alouettes_ and _mauviettes_. The one bird that
we never get in Belgium is grouse, unless it is brought over specially
from England or Scotland. It has always been found impossible to rear
grouse in the country. In the neighbourhood of Spa there are great
stretches of moorlands reaching almost to the German frontier, covered
with heather, which look as if they would be the ideal home of the
grouse. Here M. Barry Herrfeldt, of the Chateau du Marteau at Spa, a
real good sportsman, has tried his very utmost to rear grouse; first he
laid down thousands of eggs and set them under partridges, but this
proved a failure; then he introduced young birds, but they all died off,
and I think he has now given up the attempt in despair. Whilst speaking
of partridges, I ought to mention that there is no partridge in the
world so plump and sweet as one shot in the neighbourhood of Louvain,
where they feed on the beetroot cultivated for the sugar factories. At a
restaurant _Coq de bruyere_ is often served as grouse, but this is a
blackcock.
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