This bird pierces its own side to feed its young with its blood; it appears on funerary monuments as an image of sacrifice. Which bird?
The answer
The legend of the pelican opening its own breast for its chicks made it, from the Middle Ages onwards, a figure of sacrifice and charity. It appears on nineteenth-century graves, often those of people who died while caring for or rescuing others.
This question belongs to the “The Animals of Père-Lachaise” series of the Père-Lachaise quiz: ten questions, a story behind every right answer.