a lovely medieval treat!

The Aberdeen Bestiary is a particularly fine example of its type, and was created in Britain around 1200. Entirely digitised, the Bestiary can be viewed page by page with translations of the Latin text. The illustrations are surprisingly vivid still after all these years.

Much work has been done by the Aberdeen Bestiary Project to record the history of the book itself as well.

Dogs come in for a most sympathetic treatment among the creatures listed. Here is a bit of the text:

When a dog picks up the track of a hare or a deer and comes to a place where the
trail divides or to a junction splitting into several directions, it goes to the
beginning of each path and silently reasons with itself, as if by syllogism, on
the basis of its keen sense of smell. 'Either the animal went off in this
direction,' it says, 'or that, or certainly it took this turning.'

I will send you to the first page -- be sure and click the "Next" link to see them all. Enjoy.