Beast

Sources : Pheasant

Isidore of Seville [7th century CE] (Etymologies, Book 12, 7:49): The pheasant [phasianus] is named from Phasis, an island of Greece, whence it was first imported. - [Barney, Lewis, et. al. translation]

Alexander Neckam [1157-1217 CE] (De naturis rerum, Book 1.42): The pheasant [phasianus] takes its name from the island called Phasis. Whence Martial's cook, "Whence Martial the cook said, "If I had the fowls of Libya or of the Phasians, you would take them; but now take the fowls from the court." Its meat is delicate and delicious. The males choose their mates at a certain time, and only at that time when they mingle do the males live together with their mates. At other times the hens live apart throughout the year, apart from the cocks. The women of our time, who enjoy weddings every day, should imitate the use of pheasants in this part! But, unfortunately, they prefer to imitate doves rather than wood doves. Nor does nature adorn pheasants with red crests, nor protect them with spurs, as in domestic cocks. The weak are not so attached to virility and vigor as those who carry manly spirits in their strong breasts. But in the course of time, the abundance of nature in the pheasant cocks makes up for the deficiency. But this is how the fowlers trick them. The hunters cover themselves with a cloth artistically painted with the image of a pheasant and approach the bird, who, challenged to fight by the painted bird, rushes at the fowler, who retreats of his own accord. He then boldly pursues and attacks the pheasant, sometimes approaching and sometimes retreating, until he spreads his net over the bird to be caught by a companion hiding in ambush. The catch therefore enriches the table of the noble, and teaches that, those deceived by their own rashness are to be accused of reckless ventures. - [Wright/Badke]

Thomas of Cantimpré [circa 1200-1272 CE] Liber de natura rerum, Birds 5.60): The gallus silvester [cock of the forest, wild cock], is called a pheasant by Pliny, and the name belongs to the French itself. The bird is very beautiful, its feathers glittering and bright like fire, sometimes blue and green interspersed with red feathers. It seems to have twin ears on its head with feathers sticking out of them, and when it wants to, it lowers them. It lacks a crest on its head and spikes on its legs. However, despite the lack of these weapons, it is known to be a courageous and bold bird. Knowing this, bird hunters make a shield of linen and white cloth, in the middle of which they place a red cloth. The pheasant, looking attentively at the redness in the white, and fixes its eye on the cloth and wonders strangely. Nor does the fowler delay, seeing that it is trapped, and forces it to fall back on its back in an attempt to defend itself, until the hunter throws the captive bird into the nets prepared at a distance. And this is how they catch the wild cock. As the Experimentator says, the wild cock (or, as Pliny calls it, the pheasant), putting his beak on the ground, hides his head and thus believes himself completely hidden. It grows sad in the rainy breeze, hiding then in the bushes and woods. At evening or dawn it comes out of the forest, and then hunts easily. It changes its feathers to those of youth and renews itself again. Its meat is finer and lighter than that of other wild birds, with the exception of partridge chicks. - [Badke translation/paraphrase]