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[OBSERVATION IS THE BEST TEACHER.] 1233. Wild Duck, To Dress. The birds are roasted like common ducks, but without stuffing, and with a rather less allowance of time for cooking. For example, a full-sized duck will take from three-quarters of an hour to an hour in roasting, but a wild duck will take from forty to fifty minutes. Before carving the knife should be drawn longitudinally along the breast, and upon these a little cayenne pepper must be sprinkled, and a lemon squeezed. They require a good made gravy, as described below. They are excellent half roasted and hashed in a good gravy made as follows: 1234. Sauce for Wild Duck. Simmer a teacupful of port wine, the same quantity of good gravy, a small shalot, with pepper, nutmeg, mace, and salt to taste, for about ten minutes; put in a bit of butter and flour; give it all one boil, and pour it over the birds, or serve in a sauce tureen. 1235. Widgeon and Teal, To Dress. These birds may be roasted or half roasted and baked, according to the directions given for wild duck, and served up with, a sauce or gravy made in precisely the same way. A widgeon will take as long to roast as a wild duck, but a teal, being a smaller bird, will take only from twenty to thirty minutes. 1236. Roast Duck. Put into the body of the bird a seasoning of parboiled onions mixed with finely-chopped sage, salt, pepper, and a slice of butter. Place it before a brisk fire, but not sufficiently near to be scorched; baste it constantly, and when the breast is well plumped, and the steam from it draws towards the fire, dish and serve it quickly, with a little good brown gravy poured round them, and also some in a gravy tureen. Young ducks will take about half an hour to roast; full-sized ones from three-quarters of an hour to an hour.