On the 4th September Robert Schneck posted a blog about a mystery bird from Tudor times...First, I want to thank everyone for their suggestions; please tell me what you think of this possible identification.
I believe the bird represents a kingfisher or halcyon bird. That difficult
to read word might be a form of "Alcedo" which is another name for "Halcyon" (perhaps the letters are A-L-c-y-i-d-a?). Then there's the blue "kingfisher with webbed feet, shown near the water" (http://bestiary.ca/beasts/beastgallery240.htm#) from the Bestiary of Ann Walsh, "a Latin bestiary of English origin, produced circa 1400-25".Both the Ann Walsh and Tudor birds have comparable beaks and furrowed brows, compact bodies, and rounded tails with s
imilarly delineated feathers. The hoofs that make the Tudor bird so strange are, I think, a misinterpretation of an earlier artist's drawing of webbed feet. It is not difficult to imagine an intermediate drawing where they are more hoof-like than the Ann Walsh drawing but less so than the Tudor.What do you think?
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