THE CHOUGH. 115 



Roger Ascham, in his " Toxophilus," when speaking of a 

 clumsy archer, has a similar comparison to that in the 

 passage just quoted : — " Another coureth downe and layeth 

 out his buttockes, as though hee should shoote at crowes." 



" We must not make a scare-crow of the law, 

 Setting it up to fear * the birds of prey, 

 And let it keep one shape, till custom make it 

 Their perch, and not their terror." 



Measure for Measure, Act ii. Sc. I. 



Lord Talbot relates that, when a prisoner in France, he 

 was exhibited publicly in the market-place : — 



" Here, said they, is the terror of the French, 

 The scare-crow that affrights our children so." 



Henry VI. Part I. Act i. Sc. 4. 



And Falstaff, alluding to his recruits on the march to 

 Shrewsbury, says of them : — 



" No eye hath seen such scare-crows!' 



Henry IV. Part I. Act iv. Sc. 2. 



Associated with the crow by many of the poets is the 

 Red-legged Crow, or Chough — the Cornish Chough, as it 

 is sometimes called, from its being considered a bird 

 peculiar to the south-west coast of England. Since this 

 last name was applied to it, the study of ornithology has 



* "To fear,' that is, " to frighten." 



