Appendix 205 



very great luxury with us, and of great price. It is a mimic. 

 And so, as the Scops and Otus are taken by an imitation of 

 dancing, this bird is caught at night by the light of a candle 

 according to the motion of the captor. For if he stretches 

 out an arm, the bird lifts a wing; if he stretches out a leg, it 

 does likewise. In short, whatever part the fowler plays, the 

 bird does the same. So being intent on the man's actions, it 

 is fooled by the bird-catcher and caught in his net. It is a 

 little bird, of the size of a Starling, with only three fore-toes 

 and no hind-toe, a black crown, white cheeks, and colour almost 

 that of a Quail, if you were to mix with it a little ash-colour, 

 especially round the neck. I call it Morinellus for a double 

 reason, both because it is a bird most abundant among the 

 Morini, and because it is a foolish bird, foolishness being by 

 the Greeks called /xwpoT???. On this account our people also 

 call it Doterell, as if they were to say doating with folly. 



Of the Puphin or Pupin. 



There is a certain sea-bird of our country, in size and 

 form of body like a little Duck (which the Greeks call /3o0-/ca<?), 

 with webbed and reddish feet, placed nearer to the hinder 

 parts than in other web-footed kinds except the Pygosceles : 

 with a somewhat thin beak, rather more extended in breadth 

 vertically than stretching laterally to a very great length, 

 furrowed by four red grooves above, and two below, pale 

 ochre in colour. The part lying between these and the head 

 is bluish, and of such a shape as is the moon, when ten days 

 have elapsed from conjunction. The bird is black on the upper 

 surface of the whole body, save where the eyes are set, which 

 are enclosed in white : but it is wholly white below, save on 

 the upper breast, where it is black. It gets its living from the 

 sea. This bird our people call the Puphin, we say Pupin 

 from its ordinary cry of " pupin." It hides in holes, as the 

 Charadrius does. And so it is driven out from a rabbit's 

 burrow by a ferret turned in by any hunter in a place situated 

 not far from the sea. It is used as fish among us during 

 the solemn fast of Lent: being in substance and taste 

 not unlike a Seal. It is a gregarious animal, and has its 

 proper time for lying hidden, as the Cuckoo and Swallow. 



