Silkie black meat of a Silkie is generally considered an unusual attribute in European and American cuisines. In contrast, several Asian cuisines consider Silkie meat a gourmet food. Chinese cuisine especially values the breed, but it is also a common ingredient in some Japanese, Cambodian, Vietnamese and Korean dishes. Areas where Chinese cuisine has been a strong influence, such as Malaysia, may also cook Silkie. As early as the 7th century, traditional Chinese medicine has held that chicken soup made with Silkie meat is a curative food. The usual methods of cooking include using Silkie to make broth, braising, and in
What Bird is That? all-time best seller in Australian natural history and is still in print today. While sales and stature of Cayley’s original collection continued to grow, the prolific artist and ornothologist Cayley was working on a much more ambitious project – his so-called “big bird book”. From about 1918, he was creating illustrations of subspecies, plumage stages and eggs (now lost) of all known Australian birds. The project was incomplete at the time of his death in 1950, although the illustrations were all but finished. The ornithologist Terence Lindsey revived Cayley’s plans in the 1980s, creating the last and most significant revision