Date: Fri, 11 Feb 1994 10:30:01 EST
From: "Richard A. Spears" 72103.2357[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]COMPUSERVE.COM
Subject: SPARROW-COUGH, ETC.
Sparrow-fart and sparrow-cough have been in Partridge DSUE for decades marked
"ca. 1910, popularised by WWI." Indeed, it looks to be British.
The OED has a quote for sparrow-fart in 1974.
It seems to be alive and well, or at least alive and coughing.