[340] DE GALLO SCOTICO

Sylvestri, et de Mor<h>enna Anglorum.

Cap. XV.

CHAPTER XV
THE SCOTTISH WOODLAND COCK AND THE ENGLISH BLACK GROUSE

Reperitur in Scotia, tradente Hectore Boetho[1] quoddam sylvestris Galli genus, Phasiano carne, ac magnitudine simillimum: sed nigra pluma, rubentibus admodum palpebris, frumento victitans. Huius alitis effigiem Ornithologus[2] Henricum a S. Claro[3] clarissimum virum e Scotia sibi transmittendam curavisse scribit. Scoti in hoc genere marem vocant Ane blak {cock} <cok>, id est Gallum nigrum: faeminam, quae magnitudine inferior, et colore dilutior est, ane grey hen, id est, Gallinam fuscam. Mas collo, pectore, alis, coxisque punctis rubicundis aspersus est, faeminam leucophaeam maculae nigrae variant. Supercilia, et barbulas in utroque sexu membrana rubra insignit. Anglus quidam hac icone visa, in Anglia etiam capi retulit locis erica plenis. Eandem avem Guil. Turnerus intelligere videretur in descriptione, quam statim subdemus, nisi faeminae alium colorem tribueret, quam ait magis russam esse Perdice, cum faemina Galli nigri Scotici fusca sit, ut diximus.

As Hector Boëce reports, in Scotland there is a genus of woodland cock which in flesh and size is very similar to the pheasant: but it has black feathers, quite red eyelids and feeds on wheat. The Ornithologist writes that the very renowned Henry Sinclair took care of sending him from Scotland the picture of this bird. Within this genus the Scots call the male ane blak cok, that is black rooster: the female, which is smaller and more diluted in color, ane grey hen, that is, dark hen. The male is sprinkled on neck, breast, wings and thighs with red dots, black spots make the female variegated, which is gray. A red membrane in both sexes adorns the eyebrows and the eyelashes. An Englishman, after he saw  this picture, told that also in England they are captured in places rich in heather. It seems that William Turner is referring himself to the same bird in the description which I will quote anon, except that he ascribes another color to the female, and he says that she is more reddish than the partridge, while the female of the Scottish black cock is dark, as I said.

Gallinaceum sylvestre genus apud nos est (inquit Turnerus Anglus, Morhennam vulgo vocant, ni fallor, forte propter colorem maris nigrum, ut in {mauris} <Mauris>: alii, puto Hethcok, id est, Gallum ericarum) in quo faemina ita a mare differt, ut duorum generum istiusmodi rerum imperito videri possint. Mas Gallo domestico paulo minor, totus niger est, excepta ea parte caudae, quae podicem tegit. Ea enim alba est. Caeterum nigredo huius nonnihil splendescit, ad eum fere modum, quo Columborum nigrorum torques circa colla splendescunt. Ad viriditatem igitur proxime accedit. In capite rubrum quendam habet, sed carneum cirrum, et circa genas duos habet veluti lobos rubros, et eos carneos. Faemina tota maculis distincta est, et a Perdice, nisi maior esset, et ruf{f}a magis, aegre dignosci posset. In desertis locis, et planis, erica potissimum consitis, ambo degunt. Grano vescuntur, et summis ericae germinibus. Breves habent alas, et breves faciunt volatus. Hanc avem Attagenem esse conijcerem, sed qui Attagenem describunt, marem a foemina non separant. Unde colligo eundem fuisse colorem, et eandem figuram maris, et faeminae. Quod si Attagen non sit, Gallina esse videtur Varronis rustica[4]. Haec ille.

Among us a genus of wild gallinaceous is existing (says Turner the Englishman, and they call it vulgarly Morhenna, if I am not mistaken, perhaps because of the black color of the male, like in the inhabitants of Mauritania; I think that others call it Hethcok - Heath cock, that is, Cock of heathers) and in this genus the female differs from the male to such an extent that to an inexperienced in matter they could seem as belonging to two different genus. The male is a bit smaller than the domestic rooster, it is entirely black except for that part of the tail which covers the breech. In fact this part is white. For the rest its blackness is rather shining, almost in the same way as the rings of black pigeons are shining around their necks.  Therefore it is fairly close to be green in color. On the head it has something red, but it is a fleshy tuft, and around the cheeks it has as two red lobes which are fleshy too. The female is all marked with spots and were it not for being larger and more red she could be barely distinguished from a partridge. Both dwell in lonely and level places, above all covered with heather. They feed on grains of wheat and on apical buds of heather. They have short wings and make short flights. I should guess this bird is the francolin, but those people who describe the francolin don't distinguish male from female. Hence I gather that the color and the shape of male and female were the same. And if it is not the francolin, it seems that it could be the wild hen of Varro. Thus far Turner.

Verum hanc avem non esse Attagenem, ex eius historia apparebit: praesertim cum Attagen sit palustris, haec non item. Vide an eadem avis sit, quam Longolius Attagenem putavit, cuius verba recitavimus in Grygallo[5]. Haec omnia Ornithologus, qui sane et dum Attagenem palustrem vocat, Attagenem novisse minime videtur, est enim montium incola, ut suo loco descripsimus.

It will come across from his description that this bird is not the francolin: above all since the francolin dwells in swamps, and this bird doesn't behave alike. You have to see if perhaps it is the same bird which Gisbert Longolius thought to be a francolin and whose words I quoted speaking of Grygallus. The Ornithologist wrote all these things, who in truth when calling the francolin a marshy bird seems that he doesn't know the francolin at all, being in fact a mountains dweller, and I described it at its proper time.