Bestiary: Pelican, Salamander, and Chameleon
Self-sacrificing pelican, fire-dwelling salamander, air-feeding chameleon
Three bestiary entries and a marginal note share this page of Notebook H. The pelican loves its young so greatly that, finding them killed by the serpent, it pierces its own heart and revives them with its raining blood. The salamander feeds on fire and renews its skin in it, a point echoed by a short marginal note on virtue; the chameleon lives on air and, to escape the birds, flies above the clouds into air too thin to bear a pursuer. The page carries only Leonardo's mirror-script prose, including one marginal addition, with no drawing.
On this page
The pelican reviving its young with its blood
The pelican bears great love for its young. Finding them in the nest killed by the serpent, it pierces itself right at the heart, and bathing them with its raining blood, brings them back to life.
The salamander that feeds on fire
The salamander has no passive members and cares for no food but fire, in which it often renews its skin. A marginal note adds that the salamander refines its skin in the fire, standing for virtue.
The chameleon that lives on air
The chameleon lives on air and is there subject to all the birds. To be safer it flies above the clouds and finds air so thin it cannot bear a pursuing bird; this height is reached only by one to whom it is granted from the heavens.