Book II. O^^lTHOLOgT. 175 



which, Bellomus faith, comes not down into plain Countries , is the very fame with 

 our Red Game : And perchance alfo the Attagen of Aldrovandus, is no other, fit h 

 Francolinus is a name common to both Aldrovandus and Bellonius his Bird : And Al- 

 drovandus writes, that his Attagen is a Mountain Bird. Neither is it a fufficient argu- 

 ment to prove the contrary, that Sicily where it is found is a hot Country : for Mount 

 JEtna in Sicily isfocold, thatthe top ofit for the greateft part of the year is covered 

 with Snow. I am fure when we went up it in the year 1 664, in the beginning oCJtine 

 the Snow was not melted. But if the Legs thereof be bare, ( for Aldrevandus doth not 

 affirm it in his defcription, though his figure represents them bare) and the Head al- 

 ways crefted, ' it cannot be our Red Game.. 



The fielh of this Bird is moft excellent, of eafie digeftion, and yielding plentiful 

 and very good nourifhment : And therefore among the Ancients was preferred before 

 all other, and placed in the higheft degree of dignity. 



§. IV. 



The Hazel-hen, Gallina corylorum, Attagen, GeJ$+ 



• 

 *Tp He Bird we deleribed Was a Cock, * weighed but a pound, being from Bill, point * This Bird 

 J to Tail end fifteen inches long; and twenty two broad. medjoric" 



The Bill, as in Hens, isblackifh, from the tip to the angles of the flit of the mouth was bigger 

 almoft an inch long : The upper Chap a little prominent and crooked. In the Palate *£P a p a a n r ^ 

 isa Cavity equal to the Tongue. Above the Eyes a naked red skin takes up the place equal 'to a 

 of Eye-brows, as in the Heathcock^ and others of this kind. The Eye-brows of the handfom Pui- 

 Female are not Co red, but paler. The Legs before are feathered half way down, be- ^ ^ve™" 

 hind bare as high as the knees.: The fore-toes are joyned together by a membrane from weighed 

 the divarication to the firft joynt: And have befides fuchlike ferrate borders,or welts, morc * 

 ftanding out on each fide, as were obferved in the precedent Birds. The infide of the 

 Claw of the middle Toe is thinned into an edge. 



The whole Belly is white. The Breaft white, fpotted with black fpots in the middle 

 of the feathers : The feveral feathers having fome one fpot, fome two or three crofs 

 lines ; The lower part of the Throat red, but the Chin of a deep black, encompalTed 

 with a white line. The Hen wants this black fpot under the Chin. From the Eyes 

 to the hind-part of the Head a white Line is produced. The Head is of a reddifh 

 afh-colour : The Back and Hump are yet more cinereous, of a colour like that of a 

 Partridge. The lower part of the Throat or Gullet is variegated with tranfverie 

 black lines. The (ides under the Wings are red or fulvous, the tips of the feathers 

 being white. The long feathers Springing from the (boulders, that cover the Back, are 

 all white. 



The Wings are concave as in Partridges and the reft of the Poultry kind: The 

 beam-feathers in each Wing are twenty four in number, the foremoil or outmoft 

 whereof on the outfide the (haft were parti-coloured of dusky and white, on the in- 

 lide dusky. The greater rows of covert Wing-feathers were variegated with red, 

 white, and black. 



The Tail was made up of fixteen feathers all equal, of about five inches long. The 

 feven exteriour on each fide had their tips of a dirty white 5 next the white a bar or 

 bed of black an inch broad } the reft of the feather to the very bottom particolou- 

 red of black and white. The two middlemoft of the Tail are of the fame colour 

 with the body, having crofs bars of white powdered with dusky fpecks. The tips 

 of the long feathers under the Tail are white, the middle part black, the lower 

 red. 



The Stomach is mufculous : The Guts thirty fix inches long : The blind Guts fifteen, 

 which in this Bird alfo are ftriate. The flefh boiled or roaft, as in the reft of this kind, 

 is whjte^ very tender alfo and delicate. 



Moftlearned men ( faith Aldrovandus) are of opinion, that this is the Bird which 

 \by the Ancient Greeks and Latims Was called Attagen-^ from whom yet he diffents. 

 It-iiYiorit (faith Georg. Agricola as he is quoted by Aldrovandus ) to live in thick and 

 fhady woods. The fame alfo writes that it is found plentifully in the Mountainous 

 Woods about the foot of the Alps, efpecially where hazels and briers abound. We 

 faw them in the Market at Nnrenberg to be fold: Whence we gather that they are 

 found in the great Woods near that City, though they be not mountainous : What 

 they live chiefly upon we cannot certainly fay, but we verily believe that their food ig 



the 



