King, Gourmet & the Law

Like the least of his subjects, George V, King and Emperor, Defender of the Faith, must obey even laws which to a gentle man and a sportsman seem pettifogging and absurd.

Last week a citizen of Penarth received back in good condition two plovers' eggs he had despatched a few days before to His Majesty. Enclosed was a significant note from the comptroller of the king's household: "Your good intention is much appreciated, but, unfortunately, according to act of Parliament, it is now illegal to gather these eggs, and far this reason they could not be accepted."

The faithful comptroller who stigmatized an act of Parliament as "unfortunate" is no supercilious lordling but plain Tom Henderson, a labor M. P. with only a grammar school education who has been the Scottish labor parliamentary whip since 1925. "Tom" is not to be confused with "Uncle Arthur" Henderson, potent foreign secretary.

Lawless, the newly-formed London Gourmets Club ate plovers' eggs at their second banquet, fortnight ago, washed this typical sportsman's delicacy down with Chateau d'Yquem 1870 from the cellars of Eugenie, late ill-fated Empress of the French. After the dinner Charles Stambois, secretary of the club explained that "our plovers' eggs were not illegal because they were a gift," an excuse which the royal comptroller showed last week to be invalid. Nevertheless the board of agriculture, lax, had not up to last week taken steps against the Gourmets club.

Before plovers' eggs were put in a class with egret they, could be eaten (in season) at any smart London restaurant for the genteel price of one guinea ($5.10) per egg. "Plover" in restaurant parlance is a handy name for almost any "wader," vaguely similar to a snipe or sandpiper. The species most common in England (and the U. S.) is the ringed plover, "Billdeer." Crocodiles like plovers, not to eat but because the birds pick leeches and other parasites from saurian mouths. Also a sleepy crocodile knows that with a few plovers about it is safe to doze off because, should an enemy approach, the cries of the plovers will wake him up. Egyptian folklore teems with improving tales about the close, platonic friendships of crocodiles and plovers.

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