THE " RUSSET-PATED CHOUGH " OF SHAKESPEARE. 333 



used for "gray," the material "cotton russet" being of that 

 colour ; and (4) that the habit of the birds referred to by Shake- 

 speare as "many in sort, rising and cawing" indicate a mixed 

 flock of Jackdaws and Rooks, and not Choughs and Rooks : an 

 assemblage of the former kind being commonly observable; of 

 the latter kind never — so far, at least, as my experience goes. 



(1) That the word "Chough" was not always intended to 

 refer to the bird with red bill and legs may be inferred from the 

 context in several passages by different writers, a few of whom 

 I will quote. Palsgrave, in his * Lesclarcissement de la Langue 

 Francoyse,' 1530, has " Choughe, a yong crowe, corneille." 



In ' The Churchwardens' Accounts of the Town of Ludlow in 

 Shropshire, from the year 1540 to the end of the reign of 

 Elizabeth/ printed for the Camden Society, we find the following 

 entries relating to the Chough, by which name the Jackdaw is 

 evidently intended : — 



"Item, payd unto Mr Beekes man the 28 of May 1569 ffor vj chohes 

 heades, jd " 



And again, between 1586 and 1587, we have — 



"Item, paied to Richard Higges for stoppinge choughes out of the 

 churche . . . . . . . . . iiij ci " 



Now as the Jackdaw, as readers of 'Ingoldsby' will remember, is 

 " a great frequenter of the church," and commonly builds in 

 church towers, while the red-legged Chough is never found in 

 such a situation, there cannot be a doubt as to what species of 

 bird was referred to by the Shropshire churchwardens in the 

 J 6th century. 



O'Flaherty, describing the birds to be met with in " West or 

 H'lar Connaught" in 1684, clearly distinguishes the Jackdaw 

 from the red-legged bird, though he calls them both " choughs." 

 He observes (p. 13) : — 



" I omit other ordinary fowl and birds, as bernacles, wild geese, 

 swans, cocks of the wood, woodcocks, choughs, rooks, Cornish choughs with 

 red legs and bills,'" &c. 



The name "chough" therefore was not exclusively applied to the 

 red-legged species. 



(2) The word " pate," synonymous with " head," occurs in 

 Shakespeare's plays at least fourteen times; "pated" but once, 

 and that in the passage now under discussion. It is not in the 



