I was in China 10 years ago and at the three gorges dam (I think 2 September
2009), among all the other tourist stalls, was one selling "roasted
sparrows" (on a stick if I remember rightly). The Tree Sparrow is (was)
abundant there (no House Sparrows) and not shy at all. The roasted remains
looked like they could be sparrows. I could not rule out that there may have
been other small birds included. I did also see children targeting small
birds in rice fields with sling shots. Whether that was Tree Sparrows, Spice
Finches or other birds I don't know (I was a passenger in a car). Sounds bad
but no worse than duck or quail shooting here.
Philip
-----Original Message-----
From: Birding-Aus On Behalf Of
Anthea Fleming
Sent: Thursday, 7 February, 2019 4:05 PM
To:
Subject: Sparrow pie
In his autobiography, "Still Digging", Sir Mortimer Wheeler told of
being given an air-gun as as small boy - on condition that he ate
everything he shot. Farmers were happy to let him shoot sparrows along
the edged of cornfields. Half a dozen sparrows, cooked in a lump of fat
in a stone jam-jar, on a camp-fire, made an excellent tea for a small boy.
Anthea
On 7/02/2019 3:27 PM, Michael Hunter wrote:
> The decline of house sparrows must be multifactorial. Although probably
irrelevant in their overall population, small birds such as sparrows
apparently made delicious pies, slowly cooked entire for hours until bones
and all were soft enough to eat. These pies were responsible for the
carnage of migrating songbirds in Southern Europe, which still goes on
despite being forbidden by the EU , The generally shyest birds I have ever
tried to see were in the Camargue in S France.
>
> Pie shy .
>
> Had we had today's multicultural society in the 1930s when sparrows were
collected , perhaps the starving workers of the Depression era might have
gourmet dined occasionally,
>
> And what did the Chinese do with all the sparrows when Mau decreed that
they be exterminated?
>
> Food for thought,
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