I was reading a magazine the other day and saw an article on pie birds. What are pie birds you may ask? I certainly did. They are also known as pie vents. A vent is put into a pie before cooking. It releases the built up steam so the pie crust won't split and boil over. I think they were first used during the Victorian Era. Most of them are shaped like blackbirds (hence four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie). I bought a rooster shaped one on ebay for 1.99. And here is the result of my endeavors.
This is before baking. When I took it out of the oven, there was steam coming out of his mouth. And what kind of pie is this? A chicken pot pie, of course.
