Exactly as printed, 1914
The best plan is to use various kinds of traps until the sparrows thinned out and become wary. Then poison the survivors. are English Sparrows as Food. These birds have been utilized for food in the old world for centuries. Their flesh is palatable and wholesome, especially when broiled or baked in the form of pies. Any recipe for pigeon or chicken pies, or for broiling small birds may be adapted for cooking sparrows. The birds may be trapped and kept alive, sheltered from storms and cold winds, in large outdoor cages, until wanted. But remember that they eat daily more than half their own weight. Feed table scraps or any food suitable for chickens, and provide a supply of clear water.
To kill them mercifully, place the thumb nail at the base of the skull and dislocate the neck by hard and quick pressure. Cut off the legs, the wings at the outer joint and the neck close to the body. Strip off the skin beginning at the neck. Now make a cut through the body wall extending from the neck along the backbone till the ribs are severed, then around between the legs to the tail, and remove the viscera. If sparrows are to be broiled, save only the breasts. This method of cooking so shrivels and parches the lesser parts as to render them worthless.
In this case tear off a strip of skin from wing to wing across the back; grasp the wings, in front of the body, in one hand and the neck in the other, and by a quick pull separate the breast from the ribs. Turn the breast out of the skin that covers it, and sever the wings at the second joint. The whole operation requires but a fraction of a minute and can be done by the fingers alone.
Household Discoveries and Mrs. Curtis's Cook Book, 1914. Public domain; transcription unaltered.