Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
BRISSEL-COCK, n.comb. Also bristle-. Meaning uncertain, poss. a turkey (see etym. note). It appears that the mod. usages derive directly or via Jam. from Pitscottie.Sc. 1821 Blackwood's Mag. (Aug.) 30:
Many other mountain-birds, that must be exceedingly rare, for though I have been bred in Scotland all my life, I never heard any of their names before. Among them were some called whaups or tilliwhillies, witherty-weeps and bristlecocks. Sc. 1827 C. I. Johnstone Eliz. de Bruce I. vi.:
The Laird is as blind as a beetle, and as proud as a Brissel cock.
[O.Sc. has brissill cok, a.1578 (Pitscottie), birsellfoul, 1626, of uncertain meaning. Jam. conjectures a turkey, by associating the word with bresil, Brazil (see below) though turkeys are strictly of Mexican orig. An alternative is to derive from Eng. bristle, from the puffing out of the feathers.]
