Aah-haa! I have found a recipe for Rook Pie! I shall get Kizzie to print it out in large letters and hang it around Scarecrows neck!
It says it is a popular dish - as they have a gamy flavour and can be quite meaty. But remove the backbone as this makes them very bitter.
Skin the rooks (do not pluck them), remove the heads and backbones and draw them. Cut the birds in half and arrange them on thick pieces of braising steak in a pie dish. Fill in the gaps with quartered hard-boiled eggs, season well, add a little gravy or stock, cover with a rich shortcrust and bake in a hot oven for the first half-hour, then lower the temperature and leave to cook for one and three-quarter hours.
I wonder if it is like the Blackbird Pie in Sing A Song of Sixpence? In fact, perhaps they weren't Blackbirds as we know them today, but rooks and crows and jackdaws? Sylvia xx