פירוש על ברכות 11:6

So M. Edd. : Who wishes to know them.

Orientals regard the cock as a power of darkness, possibly because it crows in the dark. Cf. Sanh. 63b where "Succoth Benoth" (II Kings xvii. 30) is identified with the hen, and "Nergal" (ibid.) with the cock. Note also the reference to the cock's comb on fol. 7 a, p. 37.

Cf. R. C. Thompson, Semitic Magic, p. 61, "The ashes of a black cat are a popular form of magician's stock-in-trade in the modern Arabic books of sorcery."