Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-11-17
A SPARROW DINNER.
The Familiar. Chattcring Gutter.
snipcs Baked. boiled and Fried.

| From the Cincinnati Enquirer
/ Last Friday evening an Enquirer reporter
went out to one of the suburban places not q
! hundred miles beyond the north boundary Of
| Burnet Woods park to attend what was called
| in the note of invitation "a sparrow dinner"
/ While showing him about the grounds Mr..
Blank (as We will call his host) took a seat in a
| rustic chair which was placed near bed of
| blooming roses in the garden. He had scarcely
seated himself before he sprang up and made
/ Use OF the most outrageOusly
/ UNMERCANTTE LANGUAGE
/ Tn" following - as near transcript OF his
words as the E'gt're' dare publish:
! 49,. -, ~, Merciful heavens
| john, What is this - - - -
1T looks like it might be tar. SIR
| 1t Shei that way. too. ana n little eXamina-
/ ton showed that heavy layer of tar had trans
terrrl Itself from the chair seat to the seat of the
! geHt;cCa1s light trousers.
! 'Gh. bless your soul, that amt nothing"
! John explained when Mr.. Blank had gone to the
/ house for q fresh pair OF breecles. That amt
! ncth.n-, at all This whole place is smcared with
| tar aad covered with bird traps. There is never
/ d day passes without charge of shot bursting
a window somewhere on the place. What does
! i all mean: Why. it means these here blamed
! English sn1rro"s. They swarm in this neighbor-
j h2oa thicker than flies and the old man is
| kinder nervous and hates TO hear EN- CHATTER
liz aud Cnrping from morning to night. If they
| couls S.nr il riIt be diffcTcrt but they lust
buzz like a nail factory AMI it makes him wild.
SO he encourages the boys to trap and shoot all
the srarrows they can Now I'll show You how
the tar works"
! He ran over to the stable. and presently came
! back with something tightly shut I'D i'm each
hand. The left hand held half a pint of oats,
| which he sprlakIcd over the tarrcd chair seat;
| AMI when the right hand was found il showed a
/ full grown. healthy sparrow, with stout linen
! thread tied to one of its legs.
! That's what the boys call decOy. whatever
| that is, he said. pointing to the sparrow.
The d"coy was tied To the chair-back. and
/ john retired behind of the largest rose
bushes. As matter Of course the captive bird
/ bean - CRY. and in less than three minutes
| sr2rrows were flying towards us from every
point OF the compass. They alighted in the pine
!. trees. on the aZaa bushes, on the shoulders of
Il couple OF marble fauns-everywh here. in fact;
and every bird had something to say. BY ones
and tWOS they discovered the grain on the chair
seat. i Dozen OF them We're stuck hard and
fd>t III the trcIcherouS tar before John saw lit
, to show himself and 20 to Their Rescue.
| ''TTATs THE WAY THE TAR WORKS.
he said picking the birds up one by and trans
ferrn. them to his left hand, where he carried
| them by the legs. head down. as one carries
| poultry. Its good scheme-lots of fun for
the boys. and, as told you, they have smearetl
! this whole place with tar. So that a man never
| Knows when he is going to get caught in it him
| self.
NOW perhaps you think am going to kill
| these birds. If yOu do. you are msta aiken. Just
| come along With ne and will show you some
| thing"
stone stable, turned the bronze knob and went
in -Four horse5-two blacks sOrrel and a
! gray-Whinnied when they heard the door open,
and a handsome spotted coach dog came III, and
rubbed himself against Johns legs. A sub
dued Squcdkiil9. which came down from the
| lott grew louder as we approached the broad
stairway leading to the floor above. and pre-
sently it resolved Itself into the chattering of
FIVE HUNDRED ENGLISH sPARROws
| fine wire neutrality-suspicious. twenty feet
| long. and high enough to reach to the ceiling
| had been secured in one corner of the stable
loft i'll such way as to form an enormous bird
| cage. There was an abundance of perches and
| flying rings in the interior of the Enclosure for
the accommodation of double the number of
/ birds tHat were there in CAPTIVITY.
! John grinnod as he opened a small door and
tossed the dozen recently captured birds into
the cage.
| This is where we fatten them up" said he.
! 'SparroWs are never very thin; but then when
they fly about wild they pick up all kinds of
food, ana the misses don't like to eat them
! until We nave had them here feeding on clean
| grain for at least week.
How much VIII they eat? Well. they will
eat more than a busiel of mixed oats cracked
corn and wheat every day.
! ''lCu see. here at this house we eat these
birds Just like other people eat chicken; and
they re the boss. too and don't you forget it.
The old man amt stingy. He doesn't capture
sparrOws for table use to save money at all.
lie does it because he says it is the only way to
thin out the birds in this country. Just as soon
as people find out that sparrOws Oh toast is a
mighty sight better than quail, why then good
| bye, spdrrOW.'
| AT THE DINNER TABLE
q bOnr lot no foil MI
| famous fowl.
Il AM perfectly tired of the eternal sa,neness
of the newspaper talk about the sparrow NUS
anee" began the host. They pile up argument
on argument to prove that the bird must 90;
but they never tell how it shall 90. An Occa-
siona hint about giving bounty tor sparrows
heads, or a word or two upon the edibility OF
the bird-whch nobody believes-are the only
practical bids for its determination that have
seen"
My cook has dozen different manners of
serving the BIRD put in Mrs. Blank, land
want You to taste them all. and to tell me can
didly If you do not agree with me that the flesh
Is rs white and delicately favored as even frogs'
legs or reed birds-tO say nothing of such
coarse food as quail. Now. this dish is sparrows
in sailni. The birds are treated precisely as we
would treat partridges."
The dish vas steanng hot, and tasted even
better than it looked. The flesh of the birds
was firm and white. certain portions strkingly
taycrlng the appearance of the Frenchman's
favoritc dish. The flavor. too somewhat ap-
proxilnaed that of frogs thigh; but as the
cook had used considerable wine in her cooking.
the BIRDS natural flavor could not be very dis
tnctly noted.
Sparrows stewed with mushrooms were sam
pied next. and, in spite of Madams assertion
that such small birds are rarely stewed it was
voted that this delicacy surpassed the salmi
Fer nv part" said Mr.. Blank, IL prefer the
sparrow pie"
He cut into dainty pie with scolloped edges
and deiicately Drowned crust filing the room
with Odors from Araby the blcst. Pigeon pie
Is not half bad, but sparrow pie knocks it end
ways.
II want to give you the recipe for this pie.
so that You may publish it, in order that every
lacy reader of the Enquirer may make one like
it. it she feels SO disposed. just as all expert
ment.
I'm the first place. cut the bird into quarters,
and, having lined the dish with good pie-crust
put first layer of thiniy sliced pork then a
layer of sparrows. season with pepper and salt
dust over little flour and put in small piece
OF butter. Keep on with the alternate layers of
birds and thin pork until the pie is filled up
taking care to have a thin slice of pork on ton
as we'll as the bottom. Now pour over the whole