Sc. and north. ? Obs. Also 5 stanchal, 6 sta(i)nchell, 9 dial. stanchil. [An unexplained variant of STANIEL:—OE. stánʓella.] The Staniel or Kestrel, Tinnunculus alaudarius.
c. 1450. Holland, Howlat, 652. The hobby … Stanchalis, steropis.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxxiii. 82. The tarsall gaif him tug for tug, A stanchell hang in ilka lug.
1585. Jas. I., Ess. Poesie (Arb.), 46. The Rauin, the Stainchell, and the Gled.
c. 1730[?]. in Maidment, N. C. Garland (1824), 52. O Sir, ye’re but a stanchel or else a ring-tail’d kite.
1818. Hogg, Brownie of Bodsbeck, I. xi. 208. That ever I sude hae lived to see … the stanchel and the merlin chatterin’ frae the cushat’s nest!
