Starling Pot

Starling pots, also known as bird bottles or Martin pots were used in Europe and America during the 17th and 18th centuries. Variations of this form have been excavated in Williamsburg, Philadelphia, and elsewhere on the eastern seaboard. This form was manufactured at Yorktown by the pottery owned by Williams Rogers and Dutch and English examples were exported to colonial America. This is a rare survival that helps to illustrate an important part of historic food ways and customs. These pots were used to encourage small songbirds to nest near houses so their eggs and the birds themselves could be harvested for food. Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century receipt books record the use of starlings, martins, and other small birds in a variety of dishes.
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