Thus, Mr. Gifford[164] affirms that _chuff_ is always used in a
bad sense, and means "a coarse, unmannered clown, at once sordid and
wealthy;" and Mr. Halliwell-Phillipps explains it as spoken in contempt
for a fat person.[165] In Northamptonshire,[166] we find the word chuff
used to denote a person in good condition, as in Clare's "Village
Minstrel:"

"His chuff cheeks dimpling in a fondling smile."

[160] See Yarrell's "History of British Birds," 2d edition,
vol. ii. p. 58.

[161] Nares's "Glossary," vol. i. p. 156; Singer's
"Shakespeare," 1875, vol. v. p. 115; Dyce's "Glossary," 1876,
p. 77.

[162] Mr. Dyce says that if Dr. Latham had been acquainted with
the article "Chouette," in Cotgrave, he would not probably have
suggested that Shakespeare meant here the lapwing or pewit.
Some consider the magpie is meant. See Halliwell-Phillipps's
"Handbook Index to Shakespeare," 1866, p. 83. Professor Newton
would read "russet-patted," or "red-legged," thinking that
Shakespeare meant the chough.

[163] "Glossary," vol. i. p. 162; Singer's "Notes to
Shakespeare," 1875, vol. v. p. 42.

[164] Massinger's Works, 1813, vol. i. p. 281.

[165] "Handbook Index to Shakespeare," 1866, p. 86.

[166] Miss Baker's "Northamptonshire Glossary," 1854, vol. i.
p. 116.

Shakespeare alludes to the practice of teaching choughs to talk,
although from the following passages he does not appear to have esteemed
their talking powers as of much value; for in "All's Well That Ends
Well" (iv. 1), he says: "Choughs' language, gabble enough, and good
enough." And in "The Tempest" (ii. 1), he represents Antonio as saying:

"There be that can rule Naples
As well as he that sleeps; lords that can prate
As amply and unnecessarily
As this Gonzalo; I myself could make
A chough of as deep chat."

Shakespeare always refers to the jackdaw as the "daw."[167] The chough
or jackdaw was one of the birds considered ominous by our forefathers,
an allusion to which occurs in "Macbeth" (iii. 4):

"Augurs and understood relations have,
By magot-pies and choughs and rooks brought forth
The secret'st man of blood."

[167] "Coriolanus," iv. 5; "Troilus and Cressida," i. 2; "Much
Ado About Nothing," ii. 3; "Twelfth Night," iii. 4; "Love's
Labour's Lost," v. 2, song; "1 Henry VI." ii. 4.

At the present day this bird is