The phoenix after Qamal al-din al-Damiri

Al Damiri defines the phoenix by quoting Qazwini....

The Phoenix (qaqnus) is a bird from India of a most unique nature. It collects a large quantity of firewood to build a nest; while mating male and female rub their beaks together to set the wood on fire, and be consumed; rain falls on their ashes, and beget caterpillars that will grow wings and become phoenix and will perpetuate their forebears rituals.

Al-Dimyari, Hayat al Hayawan al-Koubra, T. II; with, in the margin: Zakariya al-Qazwini, Kitab Aja'ib al-makhluqat wa-al-hayawanat wa-ghara'ib al-mawjudat, T.II, Beyrouth, Dar al Qamous al hadith, 1309 h/1891, p. 252 - 251. Translation of the French by the course translator

...probably from this source, Kawizni's account in the Zoological Section of the Nuzhatu-l-Qulûb

The Phoenix (Qaqnus) is said to be well known. It lives in India; it has a long beak, with many holes in it, and from every one there proceeds a different note. When it sings, no animal can pass by because of the sweetness of its song. And it does not beget young; at the time of death male and female collect a large quantity of firewood, and interlink their beaks together and flap their wings; from the clash of their wings the wood catches fire, and blazes, and the two phoenixes are consumed; rain falls on their ashes, and a worm appears therein, and eats of the ashes, and grows to a large size and becomes another phoenix.

translated and annotated by J. Stephenson. Published by The University of Chicago Press