Though slightly taller than a man when standing erect, a Cockatrice is more typically seen slinking standing aright. Its head is roughly like that of a rooster, with a comb-like crest, and flesh that hangs beneath the beak. The beak itself is filled with coarse teeth. The body is scaled, snake like, but with a mane of feathers about the neck, and down that covers the armatures of the wings. The front limbs are otherwise like a bat or dragon, with membrane between the digits that would allow flight, though they are only ever to be seen using them to descend gracelessly from a height; they are too massive to fly with wings as small as they are. The beast is indeed dense with bone, muscle, and thick hide, making it a formidable foe in its own right.
The gaze of the beast is frightening, paralyzing those weak of will. The creature is indiscriminate with its food-- it has a poison in its belly that will digest bone and wood and some metals. The fumes alone of this poison are deadly toxic on the creature's breath. The creature has warm blood, and is thus not susceptible to the Basilisk curse; the creatures are none the less sometimes confused, due to the paralyzing gaze of the cockatrice. A Cockatrice is born when a rooster lays an egg after eating a snake, which may occasionally happen during certain parts of the year, under the watch of certain constellations.
See also: Ichneumon; Basilisk
