Folio 46v - the cranes, continued. De milvo; Of the kite. De psitaco; Of the parrot

Folio 47r - the parrot, continued. De ibice; Of the ibis.

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COMMENTARY

Text

The kite a puny bird of prey. The parrot is green in colour with a deep red neck.

Illustration

a portrait of the kite in a roundel. Both the Aberdeen and Ashmole Bestiaries have a good depiction of this bird whose forked tail suggests that it is a red kite. Initials type 2. Red initial guide ('s') in left margin.

COMMENTARY

Text

The parrot has a hard beak and a tough skull. The ibis regurgitates snakes' eggs and carrion to feed its young.

Illustration

the parrot is correctly painted in green and red, perched on a branch. The Indian rose-ringed parakeet was the only member of the parrot family known in Europe in the middle ages. The ibis regurgitates food to its young and holds a snake (not the snake's egg mentioned in the text) in its claw. The text refers to the sacred ibis which lives at the water's edge. However it eats insects, not carrion. Initial type 2.