CHAPTER I Of the Picture of the Pelecan. And first in every place we meet with the picture of the Pelecan, opening her breast with her bill, and feeding her young ones with the blood distilling from her. Thus is it set forth not only in common Signs, but in the Crest and Schucheon of many Noble families; hath been asserted by many holy Writers, and was an Hierogliphick of piety and pitty among the _Ægyptians_; on which consideration, they spared them at their tables. Notwithstanding upon enquiry we find no mention hereof in Ancient Zodiographers, and such as have particularly discoursed upon Animals, as _Aristotle_, _Ælian_, _Pliny_, _Solinus_ and many more; who seldom forget proprieties of such a nature, and have been very punctual in less considerable Records. Some ground hereof I confess we may allow, nor need we deny a remarkable affection in Pelecans toward their young; for _Ælian_ discoursing of Storks, and their affection toward their brood, whom they instruct to fly, and unto whom they re-deliver up the provision of their Bellies, concludeth at last, that Herons and Pelecans do the like. As for the testimonies of Ancient Fathers, and Ecclesiastical Writers, we may more safely conceive therein some Emblematical than any real Story: so doth _Eucherius_ confess it to be the Emblem of Christ. And we are unwilling literally to receive that account of _Jerom_, that perceiving her young ones destroyed by Serpents, she openeth her side with her bill, by the blood whereof they revive and return unto life again. By which relation they might indeed illustrate the destruction of man by the old Serpent, and his restorement by the blood of Christ: and in this sense we shall not dispute the like relations of _Austine_, _Isidore_, _Albertus_, and many more: and under an Emblematical intention, we accept it in coat-armour. As for the Hieroglyphick of the _Egyptians_, they erected the same upon another consideration, which was parental affection; manifested in the protection of her young ones, when her nest was set on fire. For as for letting out her blood, it was not the assertion of the _Egyptians_, but seems translated unto the Pelecan from the Vulture, as _Pierius_ hath plainly delivered. _Sed quod Pelicanum (ut etiam aliis plerisque persuasum est) rostro pectus dissecantem pingunt, ita ut suo sanguine filios alat, ab Ægyptiorum historiâ valde alienum est, illi enim vulturem tantum id facere tradiderunt._