Note 12 — Chapter XIII · PEAFOWLS

Of course the bird was not cooked with the feathers on, but was skinned, the feathers remaining in the skin, and after the flesh was cooked the skin with the feathers was placed over it before it appeared on the table. Skinning poultry instead of plucking the feathers seems to have been quite a common practice in old times. As recently as between 1880 and 1890 the author heard of people who preferred it as the easiest way of preparing chickens to be cooked immediately.