River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1894-03-15
SPARROW POT PIE.
Three Score Birds In a stew Prove Season.
able Delicn cles During Hard Times.

able Delicn cles During Hard Times.
The English sparrow, that little nui-
sance who has succeeded in getting
his name in the papers more often in
the last few years than any member of
the feathered tribe known to natural
history, has at last become mixed up in
a news item in which his name can be
mentioned without censure. This is
probably the first occasion of the kind
on record.
Down in that indefinite section
known as ''Thirty-third and de tracks
there is an infant industry which owes
its recent inception and development to
the financial depression and the steady
demand for meat and other necessities
of life.
If one is fortunate enough to find the
place he can see at any time of day
crowd of ragged boys, ranging in age
from advanced babyhood to a dozen
years, industriously engaged in a
pastime which is both unique and more
or less profitable. There are thousands
of sparrows in almost every part of the
city; they swarm wherever food can be
picked up or mischief done. They
flock about the grain cars on the side
tracks and exhibit little fear of the
boys who gather bits of coal and fire.
wood which fall from passing trains.
One bright juvenile conceived the
thought of making the sassy birds a
source of profit. He did not think of
catching and selling them for nightin-
gales as others have done, but he de-
cided that they might be good to eat,
| and If he could collect enough of them
they might furnish one of the ingre-
dients of an Irish stew or pot pie.
He had heard that sparrows had been
sold as reed birds" and, though he
had no idea what reed birds were, he
] knew they must be something edible
Following out that line of thought he
decided that sparrows must be good
too.
To be sure il required large num-
Der of them TO make mess" but the
thinker reasoned that sparrows were
larger than oysters or shrimps or 10
Gusts or snails and grasshoppers. He
/ knew all those things were eaten and
relished by some people, though he had
never tasted any of them. Meat was
not an every day item on the bill of
fare in his basement home and the
thought of an additional square" meal
was a sufficient incentive for immedi-
ate action. He decided to try il.
AS in the case of the old lady's recipe
| for rabbit pie he must first catch the
rabbit" nd he set about it with such
means as were within reach and wit
| litt'~ .rouble was eminently successful
| The plan was simple; he secured a b. s.
about three feet square and with o.
side uncovered Turning the open siC =
down he tipped it up on one edge and
propped it there with stick one foot
long. With a string attached to the
upright stick one could jerk it from
under the box, which, relieved of its
support, could fall to the ground with
the open side down. Thus he had an
| improvised and effective dead fall"
A few trials proved satisfactory. He
had only to entice intended victims b.
meath the box and pull the sizing.
With hatful of small grain for bait"
the inventor retired from his box, stick
and string to quiet alley. In few
| hours he emerged therefrom with three
score headless sparrows. He took his
| first days catch home, and after due
process in the culinary department the
result was more than gratifying.
He kept his discovery a secret as
long as possible, but it soon became
public property. The result was YER
table crusade against the festive spar
row, and the mortality rate has gone
up several hundred per cent. The
much-abused birds are becoming scarce
| and wild in that vicinity. Chicago
1 Frrfhrna