A Compendium of Useful Information for the Practical Man/Hunting

Deer Hunting in Southern California
Life in the open: sport with rod, gun, horse, and hound in southern California By Charles Frederick Holder

Baiting and Shooting Sparrows
Sparrows are accustomed to feed in close flocks, and when thus assembled in favorable places a large number may be shot. The best way is to scatter grain over long, narrow areas and shoot the sparrows at these baiting places. Where sparrows infest poultry yards, the bait may be placed on a horizontal board, supported at such an elevation that the birds can be shot without danger to the poultry.

[http://books.google.com/books?id=lLdDAAAAIAAJ Pamphlets on forestry. Fish and game, Volume 5]