Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
¶SPRAUCH, n. The house sparrow, Passer domesticus. Comb. ¶sprauch-shower, a crowd of sparrows.Slk. 1828 Blackwood's Mag. (Sept.) 289:
Their numbers . . . seemed to justify the humanest of boys in killing any quantity of sprauchs. . . . You had but to fling a stone into any stack-yard, and up rose a sprauch-shower.
