Beast

Sources : Snipe

Thomas of Cantimpré [circa 1200-1272 CE] (Liber de natura rerum, Birds 5.93): Nepa is a bird called in French orbegelina, as if "hen of darkness" [obscuritatis gallina], having its name from this fact. It is about the size of a partridge. It has a long beak, with which it digs deep into the earth seeking worms food, and if at any time it is not able to get out easily, with its beak embedded deeper into the earth, it uses its feet, and by their efforts dislodges the dirt in which it had stuck its beak, so it frees itself and flies into the air. During the day the bird rests in hiding, but in the evening and early in the morning it flies through the air, whence at those same hours they are caught, and this through wide nets suspended high up above the ground, which are suddenly released by ropes. It is like a partridge in color on the back, and on the chest like sparrowhawk [nisus]. It is said to not live in England and some other countries. The nepa has a hole in its head almost from ear to ear, so that its eyes are readily available [?]. It puts its ear to the ground and hears the gnawing worm. - [Badke translation/paraphrase]

Albertus Magnus [ca. 1200-1280 CE] (De animalibus, Book 23, 85): Nepa is a bird characterized by a long beak, a dorsal coloration similar to a partridge, and the ventral color of a sparrow hawk. It jabs its beak into soft soil searching for a meal of grubs. Sometimes it pokes its beak too deeply into the ground and gets stuck in the mire; when this happens, it trees itself from the cloying muck by pushing with its feet. This bird rests during the daytime but sallies forth at dawn and twilight; hence it is caught by raising high nets at these hours of the day. As a comestible item its meat is sweet and tender. Some writers have called this bird the fig-peckerr [fiscedulam]. - [Scanlan]