Description A dragon's form, but with a rooster's head. Sometimes
described as having red to black eyes.
Features Said to be from a rooster's egg, hatched by a serpent or a
toad. Its look or breath is said to be poison. Can be killed by a
weasel or by the sound of a rooster crowing.
Also Called Basilisk- frequently, these terms are used
interchangeably.
Described By: Unknown- "For they say that when a Cocke groweth old,
he layeth a certaine egge without any shell, instead whereof it is
covered with a very thicke skinne, which is able to withstand the
greatest force of an easie blow or fall. They saye, moreover, that
this egge is layd onely in the Summer time, about the beginning of
the Dogge-dayes (between early July and early September), being not
so long as a Hens Egge, but round and orbiculer:...sometimes of a
yellowish muddy color... and afterward sat upon by a Snake or Toad,
bringeth forth the Cockatrice, being halfe a foot in length, the
hinder part like a snake, the former part like a Cocke, because of
a treble comb on his forehead."
Supposedly there was a cockatrice found in the vault of a chapel
dedicated to Saint Lucea during the time of Pope Leo the Fourth
(847 to 855.) The breath of this cockatrice fouled the air, and
caused many deaths in Rome.