NOTES AND QUERIES. 427 



about some trees early in the evening, and procured one specimen. It 

 proved to be the Hairy-armed Bat, Vesperugo leisleri, and as it is a rare 

 species in the British Islands, the locality is worth noting. — Edward C. 

 Barrington (Dublin). 



BIRDS. 



The "Russet-pated Chough" of Shakespeare. — May I be allowed to 

 call attention to the word " russet " as applied to one of the oldest varieties 

 of apple. In Miller's * Gardener's Dictionary ' (8vo edit. 1768), occurs the 

 following : — " The Royal Russet, by some called the * Leather-coat Russet,' 

 on account of the deep russet colour of the skin," &c. Now this was a 

 variety in Shakespeare's time, and he well knew it, for in the second part 

 of ' King Henry IV.' Davy says, entering, " There is a dish of ' leather- 

 coats ' for you"; and Hazlitt, in his edition of Shakespeare, has the note 

 referring to the word "leather-coat," russetines. Now, as everyone knows, the 

 colour of the russet pippin is a rusty red on one side, the inference is plain 

 that this was the colour meant by Shakespeare in the above passage, and 

 cannot possibly mean any other colour. The term grey-russet or russet- 

 grey, as applied to cloth, is the colour of the ordinary Welsh cloth worn by 

 the small Welsh farmers and peasantry at the preseut day, and has been 

 so worn for centuries. It exactly expresses what it is, viz. a rusty-brown 

 colour streaked or rather " shot " with grey, and at a distance looks a 

 reddish brown, the grey being only discernible when quite near. The 

 44 russet pyle," as applied to a stag, clearly means its reddish coat, as in a 

 "pile" carpet, which is a thick-coated carpet. I think, therefore, that 

 from Shakespeare knowing the russet pippin or "leather-coat" as well as 

 he did, he alluded to the red feet of the Chough in the above quotation. — 

 E. Cambridge Phillips (Brecon, S. Wales). 



[The expression "russet pyle" evidently does not apply to the deer's 

 coat, for Turbervile, who makes use of it, is describing the antlers. We 

 have never seen a russet apple with any red on it. — Ed.] 



The M Russet-pated Chough." — Beyond reasonable doubt Shakespeare 

 by this term intended the Jackdaw, and I may add — what none of your 

 correspondents have pointed out — that in his day the very old and fine 

 English keeping apples went by the name of russets from their colour, 

 and they have no trace of red about them. As for Prof. Newton's suggestion 

 that the red feet of the Cornish Chough, seen from beneath and against 

 the sky, would be perceptible, I would ask who ever saw the legs and feet 

 of a Jackdaw or Chough when flying, or indeed those of any other bird, 

 except Storks or Herons. When a trained hawk is on the wing you may 

 see the "jesses," but not the feet.— C. H. Fisher (The Castle, Stroud, 

 Gloucestershire). 



