Units of measurement in France before the French Revolution (league) had a number of variations, particularly the "aune" (which was used to measure cloth The "loi du 19 frimaire an VIII" (Law of 10 December 1799) states that one decimal metre is exactly 443.296 French lines, or "3 pieds 11.296 lignes de la "Toise du Pérou"". Thus the French royal foot is exactly 9000/27,706 metres (about 0.3248 m). In Quebec, the surveys in French units were converted using the relationship 1 "pied" (of the French variety, the same word being used for English feet as well) = 12.789 English inches. This makes the Quebec "pied" very slightly smaller (about
Pied currawong of its relative, the Australian magpie. The pied currawong was first described by English ornithologist George Shaw in 1790 as "Coracias strepera", although "Strepera" was adopted as a generic name. Its binomial names were derived from the Latin "strepera", meaning "noisy", and "graculina" for resembling a jackdaw. Pied crow-shrike is an old vernacular name from colonial days, and the term "pied" refers to two or more colors in blotches. Other common names include pied chillawong, currawang, charawack, kurrawack, tallawong, tullawong, mutton-bird, Otway forester, and pied afternoon-tea bird. The onomatopoeic term "currawong" itself is derived from the bird's call. However, the