Folio 40v - the cock, continued. and Folio 40v - the cock, continued. De strucione; the ostrich.

COMMENTARY

Text

The cock compared to a preacher.

Comment

Addition in margin: 'intelligentsia datur nec tamen iuxta intelligenciam'. This phrase occurs in the standard texts (Clark, 1992, 186). Bottom left margin 'cathedra'. The text refers to the 'perch of prelates', where it should say the 'cathedra' or 'seat of prelates'. (Clark, 1992, 186).

COMMENTARY

Text

The ostrich. It has wings but does not fly and has feet like a camel. It looks for the Pleiades in the sky before laying its eggs in a hole in the sand. The eggs hatch while covered by warm sand.

Illustration

One ostrich looks at a star in the margin while the other buries eggs in the sand with its beak.

Comment

There is an attempt to make the claws look like camels' feet but otherwise the birds are not very realistic. They were common in north Africa until the nineteenth century. Two quire marks, a 'g' in pencil and another in ink at bottom centre. Chevron folio mark at top right corner. Initial type 2.