Batman vppon Bartholome his booke De proprietatibus rerum, newly corrected, enlarged and amended: with such additions as are requisite, vnto euery seuerall booke: taken foorth of the most approued authors, the like heretofore not translated in English. Profitable for all estates, as well for the benefite of the mind as the bodie. 1582.

De Vitulo. cap. 111.

A Calfe is called Vitulus, and hath that name of Virore aetatis, spring∣ing of age, as Isi. saith lib. 12. For when he is calued, anone he riseth by his own vertue, and seeketh the Cowes vdder, & sucketh anone, and he is licked with the Cowes tongue, & cleansed of all manner filth that commeth with him out of hir wombe. And the Calfe when he is cal∣ued hath a certaine blacke specke in the forhead, and Witches meane, that that specke or whelke exciteth loue, but the Cowe biteth away this specke out of the Calues forhead, and receiueth him not to hir teates, ere the foresayd venime be taken off and done away. And Ari. sai∣eth the same of the Mare, & of hir colte, and Auicen also. Looke before in litera E. de Equa. The Calfe loueth his dam, and knoweth hir lowing, and followeth hir, and busheth with his forhead y^e vd∣der that he sucketh, and getteth so the more milke of his dam. And when he is full, and hath wel sucked, then he is me∣rie and glad, and leapeth and startleth leaping about: and goeth not out of his dams foores. Also lib. 8. Arist. saith, that Calues be gelded after one yeare, and if they be not gelded, then they shall be lit∣tle of body: and a Calfe is gelded in this manner. He is throwen downe to the ground, and the skinne is cut and slit, & the gendring stones be cut out, and the strings thereof be areared vpwarde, and the sinewes also, & the caruing is bound vntill that the bloud passe out: and som∣time there gendereth a postume in that place, and then they burne that one gen∣dring stone that is cut off, and put the

pouder thereof vppon the postume, and so the place is saued. Also in the sea is a beast lyke to the Calfe, and is there∣fore called the Sea calfe:* 1.1 and this beast calueth on the land, and gendreth as an Hound, and calueth neuer more than twaine, and he féedeth his whelpes with teates, and bringeth them not to the sea vntill the eleuenth day, and then he tea∣cheth them to swim, and they are euill to slaye, except they be hit in the heads, and they lowe as a Calfe,* 1.2 and be there∣fore called Calues, and becke and make signes to men with voyce & with sem∣blaunce with most discipline. No beast sléepeth faster than these, and with the fins that they vse in the sea, they creepe on the lande, in stéede of feete, and haue rough skins and hairie as calues haue, and when the skinnes be falue off, they hold the kinde of the Sea, for the haire thereof ariseth when the sea floweth, his right fin hath a milde vertue, for it gen∣dereth sléepe, if it be laid vnder the head. Huc vs{que} Plin. li. 8. ca. 7.

(* 1.3Uery simply did the olde Authors write of the nature of things, the cause was, they lacked varietie of wordes, to expresse their mindes.)

Notes

• * 1.1

  A Seale.
• * 1.2

  They snarle as a dogge, & do not lovve.
• * 1.3

  Additiō.