he usual tool for such collecting was what Americans call a smallgame rifle, but which 19th century Englishmen called a “rook & rabbit” rifle. A rook is a black bird, distantly related to the crow, which is both edible and appetizing when very young. Picking them off the branches of “rookery” trees was an important springtime sporting event. The culinary result was “four-and-twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie.” When the few days of rook season ended the rifle was turned to
