Bestiary The Aberdeen Bestiary

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Folio 49r Commentary

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Folio 49r f49r Text: Storks are devoted to their young, shedding many feathers for their protection. They eat snakes. Illustration: Two recognisable storks in a roundel. One is eating a frog, not the snake mentioned in the text and the other may be snapping its beak together. Although the stork is only recorded once in the middle ages as a visitor to Britain, the Aberdeen artist has created a remarkably accurate portrait of the bird (and the frog). The original source for the illustration must have been made on the Continent by someone who had observed storks. There is a quire mark ('h') at the bottom centre of the page.

The illustration in detail

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Historic Collections - University of Aberdeen - King's College - Aberdeen - AB24 3SW
Michael Arnott
m.arnott@aberdeen.ac.uk

University of Aberdeen