Salting a bird's tail...

[Dan Shane]

The "trick" of salting a bird's tail to prevent its escape was used in the
first WOODY WOOPECKER cartoon (which was actually an ANDY PANDA cartoon).
As noted in an earlier post, the procedure was already a well-known "fact"
for well over a century before the cartoon was made in the early 1940s.

I've never found an origin for this legend, but it's long been something
parents told their kids to watch the reaction (at least until the present
generation -- most youngsters I confront with this tale today are unfamiliar
with it).  It's fun watching little ones in the back yard with a slat shaker
in their mitts.

A brand of salt sold in England (CERBEROS) actually has a picture of a small
boy attempting to salt a bird's tail on the label.

Dan