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<DIV>In a message dated 11/26/2003 7:33:43 PM Eastern Standard Time, dve@kabelfoon.nl writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT face=Arial>>> not so much a common phrase, but a widely believed folk story.... if <BR>>> you can sneak up behind a bird and sprinkle salt on it's tail - you <BR>>> can capture it.<BR><BR>>No! You ain't kidding! Or could it be that you coincidentally are a <BR>">BIG machine that can answer ANY question", or something? :-)<BR> </FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV>i recall going with my brother with a salt shaker looking for birds, </DIV>
<DIV>this would be the late 1950s....</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT face=Arial><BR>>> it was common useage by at least the 1840s<BR>>> (mentioned in a book by sir walter scott), and probably 1700s if <BR>>> not earlier<BR><BR>>Are there websites which have investigated this folk story of sprinkling <BR>>salt on a bird's tail? That trick doesn't really work, does it?</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV>yes, there are websites (which is where I got the sir walter scott cite).</DIV>
<DIV> dunno if any one has actually put salt on a birds tail </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>steven rowe</DIV></BODY></HTML>