ng even the feet and tail. In allusion to this supposed
characteristic, Shakespeare makes Hamlet say (iii. 2), "Of the
chameleon's dish: I eat the air, promise-crammed; you cannot feed capons
so;" and in the "Two Gentlemen of Verona" (ii. 1) Speed says: "Though
the chameleon, Love, can feed on the air, I am one that am nourished by
my victuals, and would fain have meat." There is, too, a popular notion
that this animal undergoes frequent changes of color, according to that
of the bodies near it. This, however, depends on the volition of the
animal, or the state of its feelings, on its good or bad health, and is
subordinate to climate, age, and sex.[391] In "3 Henry VI." (iii. 2)
Gloster boasts:

"I can add colours to the chameleon,
Change shapes, with Proteus, for advantages."

[390] "Vulgar Errors," bk. iii. p. 21, 1852; bk. i. p. 321,
_note_.

[391] Ovid ("Metamorphoses," bk. xv. l. 411) speaks of its
changes of color.

_Cockatrice._ This imaginary creature, also called a basilisk, has been
the subject of extraordinary prejudice. It was absurdly said to proceed
from the eggs of old cocks. It has been represented as having eight
feet, a crown on the head, and a hooked and recurved beak.[392] Pliny
asserts that the basilisk had a voice so terrible that it struck terror
into all other species. Sir Thomas Browne,[393] however, distinguishes
the cockatrice from the ancient basilisk. He says, "This of ours is
generally described with legs, wings, a serpentine and winding tail, and
a crest or comb somewhat like a cock. But the basilisk of elder times
was a proper kind of serpent, not above three palms long, as some
account; and different from other serpents by advancing his head and
some white marks, or coronary spots upon the crown, as all authentic
writers have delivered." No other animal, perhaps, has given rise to so
many fabulous notions. Thus, it was supposed to have so deadly an eye as
to kill by its very look, to which Shakespeare often alludes. In "Romeo
and Juliet" (iii. 2), Juliet says:

"say thou but 'I,'
And that bare vowel, 'I,' shall poison more
Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice."

[392] Cuvier's "Animal Kingdom," 1831, vol. ix. p. 226.

[393] "Vulgar Errors," bk. iii. p. 7.

In "Richard III." (iv. 1) the Duchess exclaims:

"O my accursed womb, the bed of death!
A cockatrice hast thou hatch'd to the world,
Whose una