In the children's rhyme, it was the sparrow who owned up to killing Cock Robin.
But Taranaki residents have been left wondering who - or what - killed not just one sparrow, but hundreds of them.
The grisly sight of the lifeless flock greeted workers and shoppers as
they arrived in New Plymouth's main street early on Friday morning.
Dead birds dropped from the trees while others huddled together in small groups.
Some blamed the previous night's heavy rain, suggesting it had left the birds waterlogged and unable to fly.
Not New Plymouth ornithologist David Medway, who said some survivors recovered after they dried out.
"There are a lot of sparrows around but we don't like to see them keeling over."
New Zealand Birds website creator Narena Olliver suspected the carnage could have been a deliberate cull by cafe owners.
Her site describes sparrows as a "serious agricultural pest as well as making a nuisance of themselves in towns and cities around food outlets such as cafes".
After clearing the carnage, New Plymouth District Council sent some of the bodies for autopsy to see if they had been poisoned. The results should be available this week.
If the sparrows were killed deliberately, it will mark a shift since they were introduced in 1867 as a way to combat crop-eating insects.
Olliver said it could even be a sign of sparrows' vulnerability in the modern world.
She cited British research claiming sparrows were vulnerable because of the lack on insects for them to eat in modern, easy-care gardens.
"I find this more scary than global warming."
