Baked in a Pie.

Auckland Star, Volume XVII, Issue 43, 20 February 1886, Page 5

Baked in a Pie.

How tbo English Sparrow May Be Made

Good for Something,

Many things are necessary for a sparrow pie* and the chief of the_e is first to catch your sparrows. , The sparrow likes best the neighbourhood of rickyards; and the artfulness and 'dexterity with which he will bang by his foet, throw the whole weight of his littlo body on to an ear of *yheat, and carry it off_ is One of the things that are rarely obsorvod, though they are woll worth observing. Naturally he is as unpopular with the fanner as is the barn rat;' and tho sparrow catcher, like the rat catcher,''comes from the town, to exterminate him—being paid, like the wolf catehor of old. times, by the number of heads delivered.: Sparrows are much too art ful for any trap. It is almost 'useless to sot noosos or lay clap-nets for these birds. The sparrow-catcher a method 'is known as batfowling. For, : bat-fowling four sportsmen are the proper numbor. One of these carries a long stick, with which he beats the ivy or the sides of the rick and so starts the game. The second bears a lantern at the end of a pole, toward the light of which the birds fly when suddenly aroused from sleep.. The other two hold and rattle close against the roosting-haunt of the birds a wide-mouthed net, made like a shrimping net, but con aiderably larger; and into this tho sparrows dash, bewildered by the noiee and dazed by the light. Sparrow-catchers need no license, their gear is cheap, and.sparrows in good condition command a very fair price. As the sparrow-catcher is paid by the head, or rather the- jiozen' of, heads, yoa will never find the head of a sparrow in a town pudding. When the sparrow reaches the London" market guile commences. His head is gone already ; his feet ate now removed, and tie does duty for the lark at many a London restaurant and hotel (indeed, in the best of these the lark makes his appearance on your plate withbia feet on, so that the long claws may establish his, identity)., Were .we willing to call things'by their right names, this deception would be unnecessary. Acorn-fed sparrW differs as widely frdm an'insectivorous lark as does a Norfolk turkey from a Scotch capercailze. Eaoh is excellent in its way, but. they no more resemble each other than does the genuine red venison the parkfed fallow deer. Those wbo have merely looked at the vignettes in Yarrell can distinguish inamoment between the breastbone of tbe lark and tbat of the sparrow,- Some sceptics declare that, boned larks served as alonettea en caisse are, nine timos out of ten,, . simply sparrows,the whiteness of whose flesh, is concealed by highly-coloured gravy. But there are other ways of cooking a sparrow than to boil him with beefsteak under crust; and in every way he repays

the' trouble of r ".thercgok,r Roll-n a piece of 'bacon over his.breast'lnot toolargei aipidco), roast him in a Dutch oven, and so Bervo him hot. Schoolboys knOw thia, although they are of ton obliged to diaponso with the bacon.. Or, "anothor way." Curry a dozen- sparrows and servo them with the proper £ravy in a rampart of rice. In fact, when you havo once understood how dainty a bjrd a well - fqd sparrow ia, ,o dozon worthy niodes of' presenting- hitn'at table .will occur, to you t| ' ; Has not a book been written detailing a hundred methods of cooking the potato ? _~ Ono way may bo recommended as excellent. Cut enough off tho end of a large potato to onable you to scoop a receptacle for your sparrow. Piace rhiin thoroin, as Izaak Walton said, " tenderly," with appropriate adjunqtS'to your; taste; Lute, on tho head of your potato again with flour and wator. Use your judgment aa to time of serving, and his baked potato will astonish your guest. 2\or need the humanitarian be aggrieved at all thia good advice, nor argue about tho number of livos that havo to be sacrificed or a single pudding. The sparrow is not easy of extermination, as the 'good people of Australia havo discovered. You might as well talk of overahrimping Pegwell Bay as of overbatfowling English rickyaids. Nor haa tho sparrow, liko the quail, to bo kept in a dungeon and stuffed with millet until ho is quite uncomfortable. Scholars of tho Paul Rondnlet type, should thoy bo disposed to think of Lesbiu's Bparrow, and therefore hositate as to sparrow pudding, may take comfort from the thought that tho pot of Lesbia was cortoinly not our own passor doraosticua, inasmuch as it used to flutter round hor head, peck playfully at her finger, and twitter a welcome to hor. Tho bird in question was probably a goldfinch, a redpolo, a siskin. The Romans appliod tho term passer to all small birds indiscriminately. Anyhow, thero is vory little of romance about a fullfod cock sparrow enptured during his wintor season among the corn ricks.— " St. James's Gazotte."