Pelicans and flamingos
One of the animals that shows up in bestiaries is called the pelican. The most intriguing feature of the pelican in these accounts is that it feeds its young with its own blood. Eventually this became a Catholic symbol of Christ. The weird thing is that pelicans don't do this, and pelicans are a common animal throughout Europe. So why does it say this? One clue is that Isidore of Seville writes: Isidore of Seville [7th century CE] (Etymologies, Book 12, 7:26): The pelican [pelicanus] is an Egyptian bird inhabiting the solitary places of the river Nile, whence it takes its name, for Egypt is called canopos. It is reported, if it may be true, that this bird kills its offspring, mourns them for three days, and finally wounds itself and revives its children by sprinkling them with its own blood. There is a bird that annually migrates to Egypt, but it isn't the pelican-- it's the flamingo. And flamingos produce red crop milk in their digestive tract and feed it to their young:
