[–] 23064170? 0 points 4 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago (edited ago)
Once upon a time, there was a minor trade in selling song sparrows as caged birds. However, it wasn't as simple as catching a sparrow and putting it in a cage. When a wild sparrow is placed in a cage it will refuse to sing, and without its song a sparrow is just another brown bird. To get around this problem the purveyors of caged sparrows resorted to the simple expediency of blinding the sparrows with a hot poker. The blinded birds were unable to see that they were in a cage, so they would sing. Interestingly blinded birds were also used as live decoys to attract other birds, which is where the term "stool pigeon" came from.
[–] 23063397? 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
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