SIXTEENTH CENTURY 157 
Dr. John Kay or Caius.—To the “ Avium Praecipuarum 
. . historia ” of Turner, that portion of a kindred work, the 
“De Rariorum Animalium atque stirpium Historia,” which 
relates to ornithology, is a useful sequel. This was published 
in 1570—twenty-six years after Turner’s book—by Dr. John 
Kay, or Caius as he is commonly called,* a native of Norwich, 
although he does not seem to have lived there long. Mr. 
Evans gives the whole of the bird part of it with a translation, 
as an appendix to his edition of Turner. Kay only describes. 
thirteen birds in his ‘‘ De Rariorum,” but at some length; 
of these eight are British species, and what he has to say 
about them is quite to the pot. Noteworthy are his remarks 
on the Gannet and the Puffin—one of the latter he actually kept 
alive for eight months in his house, which nowadays would 
be looked upon by aviculturists as a good performance. It 
bit with right good will, but was satisfied with little food, 
yet when there was none, begged with the cry of ‘pupin, 
pupin.” Our author has a good deal to say about the Solan 
Goose, but his dissertation on that species is entirely from the 
“writings of others, except where he compares them to Puffins 
for flavour and fatness. Of the Meleagris or Guineafowl he 
furnishes quite a lengthy description, penned with great 
accuracy, which is repeated, but not without acknowledg- 
ment, in Gesner's “ Historia Animalium,’’ where there is an 
admirable figure of this bird under the name of Gallus 
numidicus aut moritanus.f The species to which Kay, 
for some unknown reason, limited himself, are :— 
Sea Eagle (Osprey). 
Brent Goose (Barnacle Goose). 
Bass Goose (Solan Goose). 
Indian Duck (Muscovy Duck). 
The Turkish or Second Indian Duck (doubtful). 
Sea Pie (Oystercatcher). 
The Domestic Getulian Hen (a breed said to come from 
Africa). 
The Meleagris (Guineafow]). 
* Mr. Evans, to whose assistance I am much indebted, points out that. 
other spellings are Keys and Kees, see Venn’s “ History of Gonville and 
Caius College,” p. 30. 
} Liber III., p. 772. 
