[246] CAPIENDI RATIO.

METHOD OF CATCHING THEM

Quanvis eiusmodi volucres ab aucupibus nec retibus capiantur, nec fallantur laqueis, nec visco denique decipiantur, quoniam eas vel in cortibus vagantes vel gallinariis inclusas habemus, attamen ut vagantes, quae nobis saepe huc et illuc fugiendo {negocium} <negotium> facessunt, absque molestia {ocyus} <ocius>, ubi necessitas urget, allectae e media corte vel ex agris etiam ad praesentem usum nobis cedant eiusmodi astus possunt excogitari. Berytius[1] frumentum lasere, et melle mixtis maceratum, et Gallinis obiectum eas quasi vertigine affici scribit. Quod si verum est, ut multi affirmant, id allectis Gallinis in pastum exhibere possemus, et ceu temulentas capere. Solus Andreas a Lacuna laseri contrariam facultatem tribuit, quod, ut pace eius dixerim, neutiquam approbare possum, cum nec verba Graeca sic habeant: neque talis aliqua laseris vis legatur apud alios scriptores, sed potius plerisque animalibus venenosa. Tradunt enim pecora eo assumpto, cum aegre habent, aut subinde pristinam sanitatem recuperare, ut plerunque contingit, aut emori. Eodem modo si {hyosciami} <hyoscyami> suffitum percipiant, corripiuntur amentia quadam adeo, ut non de sedibus suis duntaxat abire obliviscantur, sed decidant etiam, et capiendi sui copiam faciant. Quo astu utuntur illi nebulones Aegyptii, quos vulgo Cinganos appellant. Nec verendum est ab eiusmodi Gallinarum esu noxam proficisci. Nam et reliquae quae eodem cibo (loquor autem de frumento, de quo paulo ante) pastae sunt, mox convalescunt. Si assam foetidam exhibueris in victu, pennae omnes decident, et velut mortuae sese capiendas tradent.

Although birds of this kind are not caught by bird-catchers with nets, nor are deceived by snares, nor finally are taken in by birdlime, since we have them either wandering in yards or shut up in poultry pens, nevertheless in order that wandering ones, who when fleeing here and there often trouble us and whom we have lured from the middle of the  yard or even from the fields, when this must be done in a hurry, they promptly submit to us for the present purpose without bothering, dodges of the following sort can be devised. Berytius - a geoponic writer - writes that wheat steeped in a mixture of juice of silphium and honey, and thrown to hens, they are seized like by a dizzy. If this is true, as many assert, we can give it as food to the hens we have chosen and catch them as if they were tipsy. Only Andrés de Laguna attributes the opposite effect to the silphium, and, no offence meant, I cannot agree with this affirmation at all, since neither Greek words mean so: nor in other authors is read any similar power of the silphium, but rather that it is poisonous to most animals. For they say that livestock who ate it when ill, either immediately are restored to health as often happens, or die. In the same way, if they receive fumigations of henbane are seized by a sort of madness so that they not only forget to move away from their pens but even fall down and cause to be caught in mass. Those loafer Egyptians whom common people call Gypsies use this trick. One need not fear that from eating such hens a damage can follow. For also the other hens, those fed on the same food (I mean wheat, about which just before) soon recover. If you give asafetida in their food, all their feathers will fall out and they will surrender for capture as though they were dead.

Cardanus eosdem scurras Gallinas, Anates, Anseres, cuniculosque suffurari scribit, ita autem cito {hamo a} <a hamo> fixos auferre, ut neque motu alarum, neque voce furtum prodant. Sed huiusmodi furtum nescio quomodo, ut ille putat, bene cedat furi. Etenim esto, quod hamo in gulam iniecto vocem illis adimant, non video, quomodo alarum concussionem impedire queant, et si hoc etiam concedamus, ut nimirum duobus hamis utramque illam actionem, vocem scilicet, et commotionem impediant, sociae vel Gallinae, vel Gallus maxime vel Anseres elato clamore, ut in consimili casu facere solent, Gallinarios excitabunt, furtumque prodent.

Gerolamo Cardano writes that those same loafers steal hens, ducks, geese and rabbits, and that they take away so quickly the subjects pierced with a hook that they cannot indicate their abduction neither by flapping wings nor by voice. But I do not know how such a thieving can be successfully carried out by the thief, as he thinks. For even granted that after they sank a hook in the throat deprive them of the voice, I do not see how they can prevent the flapping of wings, and even if we concede what follows, that is, with two hooks they can forestall both activities, that is, voice and flapping, their companion hens, or above all roosters or geese by cackling, as they are accustomed to do in such a situation, will awake the guardians and reveal the theft.

HISTORICA.

TALES

{Polyarchum} <Poliarchum> referente Aeliano[2], ferunt, eo mollitiei pervenisse, ut canes etiam, et Gallos, si quibus delectatus fuisset, mortuos efferret publice, et amicos suos ad funus convocaret, splendideque sepeliret, atque, quod maius est, in monumentis eorum columnas erigeret, quibus eorum epitaphia inscriberet. Qui sane Gallo amoris illius in hominem iustam reddidit talionem[3].

They say that, according to Aelian, Poliarchus reached such a degree of licentiousness that he brought out for public burial also dead dogs and roosters  if he took delight with some of them, and that he called out his friends to funeral, and that he buried them splendidly and, what is more, that on their tombs he erected columns on which he made epitaphs to be engraved. He really paid a fitting talion punishment to the rooster for its love towards a human being.

Sed ut ad veriora sermonem nostrum convertamus, Laurentius Surius[4] sanctum Germanum Episcopum {Antisiodorensem} <Autessiodurensem> prodidit, cum in itinere noctis caecitate compulsus mediocris hominum status successisset hospitio (nam id maxime ambitum fugiens requirebat) et in divino opere solito pernoctasset officio, lucem ortam esse nullis Gallorum cantibus nunciatam, cum earum avium copia in eisdem domibus non deesset. Causam novitatis explorasse, audi<i>sse multum iam tempus esse, quo tristis taciturnitas naturale Gallicinium damnavisset: ab omnibus vero exoratum mercedem mansionis exolvisse. Acceptum namque triticum benedictione condivisse, avesque eo pastas auditus habitantium usque ad molestiam frequentatis cantibus fatigasse.

But to turn my speech toward more wise matters, Lorenz Sauer related that St. Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, since on his way, compelled by darkness, took shelter in a hospice shoddy for humans (for he mostly desired this since shunning vanity) and had spent the night at divine duty with usual care, the day light arose announced by no rooster's crowing, although in that same house was not lacking an abundance of such birds. He inquired about the unusual fact, he heard that since a long time an unpleasant silence swallowed up the natural crowing of the cock at sunrise: beseeched by alls, he footed the bill of the hotel. And precisely, after picked up some wheat, he seasoned it with a benediction, and the birds fed on it, with their frequent crowing worried the ears of inhabitants until nuisance.

Ferunt, et maiorum nostrorum aevo in Hispaniae nobili quodam oppido, et ob miraculum iam per {totum} <totam> Europam celeberrimo, vulgo S. Domenico della Calzada dicto, Gallum mortuum, coctumque canto suo illustre quoddam, at potissimum cauponis filiae facinus prodidisse. Etenim virum quendam una cum uxore, et filio haud deformi iuvene Compostellam, ubi D. Iacobi corpus conservatur, cuius videndi, et adorandi gratia eo se conferebat, ut plurimos quotidie facere videmus, et ego in iuventute mea eadem etiam pietate ductus feci, iter fecisse, casuque in iam dicto oppido in diversorio pernoctasse, filiam vero hospitis amore speciosi illius iuvenis captam, ei corpus suum obtulisse{:}<.>

They also say that in the times of our ancestors, in a certain renowned city of Spain now very celebrated throughout Europe because of a miracle, usually called in Italian as San Domenico della Calzada - Santo Domingo de la Calzada, a dead and cooked rooster with his crowing revealed a famous crime, and precisely of the innkeeper's daughter. For a certain man together with his wife and his son, who was not an ugly boy at all, traveled to Compostela where the body of St. James is preserved, where he was going to see and worship it, as we observe many people doing everyday and I also did in my youth driven by the same devoutness, and by chance he spent the night in a inn in the abovementioned town, and the daughter of the innkeeper, seized by love for that handsome youth, offered to him her body.