“Wealthy Brits used to make “surprise pies” in which creatures like LIVE BIRDS would POP OUT when the pie was cut open. (The birds usually escaped.)

National Geographic 5,000 Awesome Facts, Fact # 12 out of 35

According to https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20170322-how-a-pocket-sized-snack-changed-the-english-language, “pies have provided a way for the British elite to show off with more than just size. The 16th and 17th Centuries saw the rise of so-called Surprised Pyes, created to impress guests at aristocratic banquets by concealing unexpected things under an additional removable pastry lid added after cooking.”

One royal pie in the 16th century contained musicians who would burst out playing, and another had a large group of artists that would burst out of the pie and start reciting poetry.

Pies made with bran to prevent collapsing, are hollowed out at the end and filled with birds, then covered with a pastry lid just before serving. The person slicing the pie needs to be informed. The same process applies to something as big as a human.

Most birds escaped but it wasn’t so clear on how they got the birds out of the dining area. Hopefully they were opened in the outdoors.

“Sing a song of Sixpence” may describe it best;

Sing a song of sixpence
A pocket full of rye
Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie

When the pie was opened
The birds began to sing
Wasn’t that a dainty dish
To set before a King

Wikipedia.org/wiki/Sing_a_Song_of_Sixpence

In my search to find out about birds in a pie (I googled birds in a pie) and I came across a “pie bird.” At first I was a bit horrified as I thought they were talking about a live bird cooked in a pie. It even looked a bit weird;

Then I read from https://www.allrecipes.com/article/what-is-a-pie-bird/ that “a pie bird is a little keepsake, a figurine with the shape and colors of a bird, that has a real purpose: venting steam from pies while being baked. Usually made of ceramic, pie birds are hollow and work releasing the steam from the pies, just like a chimney, so the filling does not bubble and damage the crust.” I have never heard about a pie bird.

That’s a big jump from live birds in a pie. I do not believe that live birds in a pie happens much in this age, a lot, thankfully, to PETA and other organizations against the cruelty to animals.

A pie bird is not a necessity to having a pie come out delicious. An alternate is to cut slits on top of your pie crust to allow the steam to come out.