call bird

noun — 2 senses

call bird

noun

1

A captive bird used by hunters to lure free-flying birds into a snare or trap.

2

Broadly, Figuratively Anything desirable used to lure somebody.

An example is the 'Kenwood Chef', a product which is so well known to the public that it is used as a 'call bird' by the discounters: the machine is given a conspicuous place in the shop [window]1983, David Mellor, Report to the Design Council on the Design of British Consumer Goods, page 21:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.