Birds as Food 
Kingdom next year, it would be thought 
advisable to levy a tax of 5s. per head on 
all hand-reared PHEASANTS, or, alternatively, 
fI00 upon every person preserving BIRDS or 
buying eggs for this purpose (Pall Mall 
Gazette, 16.Xi.15). 
Maintaining the chronological arrangement 
of my notes, I have next to note that in 
March 1916 it was stated that many dozens 
of BLACKBIRDS, THRUSHES, MISSEL-THRUSHES, 
LARKsS, and REDWINGS, alleged to have come 
from Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and other parts 
of England, were being exposed for sale as 
food in one of the West-end shops of London 
(Times, 31.11.16). The trivial proposition 
that small birds, the guardians of our crops, 
should themselves be utilised as ‘‘ food for the 
people’’ could only have been made by the 
blundering of ignorance. The following ironic 
reproach is so neat that it merits repetition : 
I saw with open eyes 
Singing-birds sweet 
Sold in the shops 
For the people to eat: 
Sold in the shops of 
Stupidity Street. 
45 
