Attagen 43 



PLINY OF THE ATTAGEN. 



The Attagen is most renowned as an Ionian bird ; 

 it usually is noisy, in captivity however it is dumb. 

 In former times it was considered rare, but now it 

 is taken in Gaul, in Spain, and on the Alps. 



PETRUS GYLLIUS. 



The Attagen is rather larger than the Perdix, and 

 is marked with particoloured feathers on the back, in 

 colour it is reddish, and it feeds on grain. It has 

 short wings, and rolls itself in dust. 



Accordingly our British schoolmasters are wrong who 

 make their Woodcock the Attagen, which lives only on 

 worms and never touches grain. Indeed I seriously doubt 

 whether Attagenes be found in England or not, for those who 

 give descriptions of the Attagen, do not distinguish the male 

 from the female, whence I infer that they have the same 

 colours and are like in form. But in the kind of bird which 

 with us comes the nearest to the Attagen in form, the male 

 differs so greatly from the female that they might appear to 

 be of separate kinds to the man inexperienced in things like 

 this. Nevertheless I will describe each bird. 



The male 1 is somewhat less than a domestic cock and 

 is entirely black, save that part of the tail which overlies 

 the vent, for that is white. Moreover the black colour of 

 the bird is somewhat glossy, very nearly as the collar round 

 the neck of our black pigeons is. So it approaches very 

 near to green. Upon its head it has a red but fleshy sort 

 of comb 2 , and round its cheeks two red lobes as it were 

 and those fleshy. The hen is wholly marked with spots, 

 and, were she not a bigger bird and more rufous, could 

 scarcely be distinguished from a Partridge. Both frequent 



1 Turner here undoubtedly refers to the Blackcock (Tetrao tetrix). 



2 The Blackcock has two erectile patches of red skin over the eyes, 

 which in the breeding season even reach above the top of the head ; and 

 the word ' cirrum ' must be taken to mean such a patch here. 



