Popinjay (sport)

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Popinjay or papingo (an old word for parrot, designating a painted bird), also called pole archery, is a shooting sport that can be performed with either rifles or archery equipment. The object of popinjay is to knock artificial birds off their perches. The rifle form is a popular diversion in Denmark; a Scottish variant is also known. The archery form, called staande wip^{[1][circular reference]} in Dutch language and papegai (i.e. parrot)^[2] in French, is popular in Belgium, and in Canada among descendants of 20th-century Belgian emigrants; it is shot occasionally in the United Kingdom under the governance of the Grand National Archery Society. In Germany a traditional shooting at wooden birds placed on a high pole is called "Vogelschießen" (that is "bird shooting"). These are carried out either with small bore rifles or crossbows.