For just about every bird that John James Audubon identified, documented, and pictured for Birds of America, he also prepared and tasted. The consumption of birds would have been no different from what practically every other person would have been doing to try and eke out an existence in the North American western frontier. The Lapland Long-spur (present-day Lapland longspur) was “excellent eating.” The Vesper Grass Finch (present-day Vesper sparrow) was “juicy, tender, and savoury.” The Snow bunting was “savoury.” The Semipalmated sandpiper in the fall along the shores of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers “when they feed on fresh-water insects, worms, and small coleoptera, they are very fat, and afford excellent eating.” The Yellow-breasted Rail (present-day Yellow rail) was “delicate and savoury.” The White-throated sparrow afforded “delicious eating.”
To enjoy the delicious eating of a White-throated sparrow, Audubon describes indigenous people hunting the little bird with “blow-guns.” The blow-gun was typically fashioned out of “the straightest cane.” The small arrows that were blown out of the gun were cut out of cane or wood with a soft material such as squirrel hair attached to the dull end of the arrow to act as the flight tail. The blow gun was effective up to 30 yards out and enabled the killing of “large quantities” of the White-throated sparrow and several other species of birds and even squirrels.
The Scaup (present-day Lesser scaup) was “generally tough and rather fishy in flavour.” The Purple gallinule and American coot were fit only to satisfy hunger. Other birds that did not have to worry overly about being put over a campfire include the Raven (“tough and unfit”), Canvasback (“poor, dry, and very fishy”), the present-day Greater prairie-chicken (“unfit for cooking”), and the Red-headed woodpecker (“tough, and smells strongly of ants and other insects”).