The Jackdaw (Corvus monedula), sometimes known as the Eurasian Jackdaw, European Jackdaw, or formerly simply daw, is one of the smallest species (34–39 cm in length) in the genus of crows and ravens. It is a black-plumaged bird with grey nape and distinctive white irises. Like all corvids, it is omnivorous. It is found across Europe, western Asia and North Africa. Four subspecies are currently recognised.

Taxonomy

The Jackdaw was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th century work, Systema Naturae, and it still bears its original name of Corvus monedula. The species name monedula is the Latin for jackdaw.

The common name jackdaw first appears in the 16th century, and is a compound of the forename Jack used in animal names to signify a small form (e.g. jack-snipe) and the native English word daw. Formerly jackdaws were simply called daws (the only form in Shakespeare). Claims that the metallic chyak call is the origin of the jack part of the common name are not supported by the Oxford English Dictionary.

Daw is first attested in the 15th century, which the Oxford English Dictionary conjectures to be derived from an unattested Old English dawe, citing cognates in Old High German tâha, Middle High German tâhe and modern German dialect dähi, däche, dacha.

The original Old English name was ceo (pronounced with initial ch). Though now reserved for corvids of the genus Pyrrhocorax the word chough originally referred to the jackdaw.

English dialect names are numerous. Scottish and north England dialect has had ka or kae since the 14th century. The midlands form of this was co or coo. Caddow is potentially a compound of ka and dow, a variant of daw. Other dialect or obsolete names include caddesse, cawdaw, caddy, chauk, college-bird (from dialect college = cathedral), jackerdaw, jacko, ka-wattie, chimney-sweep bird, from their nesting propensities, and sea-crow, from their frequenting coasts. It was also frequently known quasi-nominally as Jack.

An archaic collective noun for a group of jackdaws is a "clattering". Another term used is "train," however, in practice, most people use the more generic term "flock".

Subspecies

There are four recognised subspecies

• nominate monedula (Linnaeus, 1758) breeding in south-east Norway, southern Sweden and northern and eastern Denmark, with occasional wintering birds in England and France; has pale nape and side of the neck, dark throat, light grey partial collar of variable extent;
• spermologus (Vieillot, 1817) of west and central Europe, wintering to the Canary Islands and Corsica; darker in colour and lacks grey collar
• soemmerringii (Fischer, 1811) of north-east Europe, and north and central Asia, from former Soviet Union to Lake Baikal and north-west Mongolia and south to Turkey, Israel and the eastern Himalayas, and winters in Iran and NW India (Kashmir); distinguished by paler nape and side of the neck creating a contrasting black crown, and lighter grey partial collar;
• cirtensis (Rothschild and Hartert, 1912) of N Africa (Morocco and Algeria)