Circumdat maculis et multa indagine pinnæ.
Auson. Epist. iv. 27.
Nemesianus, in the following passage, asserts that the cord (linea) carrying feathers of this description had the effect of terrifying not the stag only, but the bear, the boar, the fox and the wolf:
Linea quinetiam, magnos circumdare saltus
Quæ possit, volucresque metu concludere prædas,
Digerat innexas non una ex alite pinnas.
Namque ursos, magnosque sues, cervosque fugaces
Et vulpes, acresque lupos, ceu fulgura cœli
Terrificant, linique vetant transcendere septum.
Has igitur vario semper fucare veneno