204 DICTIONARY OF NAMES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



RUSSET-PATED CHOUGH. Shakespeare mentions (" Midsummer 

 Night's Dream," act HI, sc. 2) : 



Russet pated choughs, many in sort, 

 Rising and cawing at the gun's report. 



The term " russet-pated " has aroused a good deal of con- 

 troversy. Mr. Harting considers it to refer to the JACK- 

 DAW, and a few years ago in the " Zoologist " he defended 

 at some length his opinion that " russet " might denote the 

 grey nape of this bird. Professor Newton, on the other 

 hand, seems to ha\e preferred to read it " russet-patted " 

 (i.e., red-footed), making the passage refer to the CHOUGH. 

 Mr. Harting has shown (as will be seen in the present work 

 under " Chough ") that the word " chough " did not always 

 apply to Pyrrhocorax graculus ; yet on the other hand he 

 admits that Shakespeare in other cases refers always to 

 the Jackdaw as the " daw." 



RUSSET WHEATEAR: The BLACK-EARED WHEATEAR. 

 The name is found in Latham, and it is figured by Edwards 

 (pi. 31). It is also called Russet Chat. 



RUSTIC BUNTING [No. 51]. The name is an anglicizatioii of 

 Pallas's name Emberiza rustica. 



SABINE'S GULL [No. 423]. The name is found in Jenyns and 

 was adopted by Yarrell and succeeding authors. It is the 

 Sabine's Xeme of Eyton. 



SaUne's Snipe. A melanism of the COMMON SNIPE, for long 

 supposed to be a distinct species. It was first described 

 by Vigors in a communication to the Linnean Society 

 ("Trans.," vol. xiv), from a bird shot in Queen's County, 

 Ireland, in 1822, while many others have been obtained 

 from time to time. 



SADCOCK, SEDCOCK, SEDGECOCK, SETTCOCK. Local Cheshire 

 names for the MISTLE -THRUSH. (Coward and Oldham.) 



SADDLE-BACK : The GREAT and LESSER BLACK-BACKED 

 GULLS. (Yorkshire.) From the saddle-shape of the dark 

 mantle. Swainson gives Greater Saddle-back as an Irish 

 name for the former. 



SAID FOOL. A Shetland name for the LESSER BLACK- 

 BACKED GULL. (Saxby.) 



ST. CUTHBERT'S DUCK : The COMMON EIDER. (Northumber- 

 land.) 



ST. GEORGE'S DUCK : The SHELD-DUCK. Occurs in Montagu. 



ST. KILDA WREN. See WREN. 



SAITH : The MISTLE-THRUSH. The name occurs in Merrett 

 (1667). 



