4 A Matter of Taste An old man 1 met once
told me how he used to have sparrow-pie regularly. He lived in a cottage much frequented by birds, and he would stop up the eaves after dark and go into the loft to catch his victims. He had also eaten thrushes and other birds caught by netting thatches. I suppose it's all a question• of taste and conscience. Free cartridges or a shilling a tail are to be the rewards for grey- squirrel shooters, and those who have the stomach for such things can have a secondary reward without conscience. They can eat the squirrel. It seems that the grey squirrel is eaten in America, and its flesh is supposed to be very tender. Some country people dislike rabbit because it is a rodent, and I have no great appetite for rabbit myself, but the tree rat would have to come to my table under another name before I could bring myself to sample its flesh. Once I -had "rook-pie and enjoyed it too, but then I was younger and my imagina- tion was a little different. At that time I was ready to sample hedgehog or badger ham, and might have eaten grey squirrel.
Previous page
