JACK-DAWS AND JACK.PIKES.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Silly—It seems to me that the instances given by your correspondent, in the Spectator of June 24th, of the use of " Jack " as the prenomen of many birds are not instances of the giving of Christian names to birds, but of the use of the word " Jack" in the sense of " small " or "short." A "Jack" pike is a pike under 5 lbs. in weight; carpenters call the short plane the " Jack " plane. So "Jack" daw is the smallest species of daws ; " Jack " snipe, the smallest of the snipes; " Jack " curlew, or whimbrel, the small-sized curlew ; and so on. The sparrow, whose impudence makes his small size especially noticeable, is "Jack" sparrow, in the same sense that "Jack" sprat is the small fish. There are many instances. in colloquial speech of the use of the word " Jack " in this
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