כָּל־הַֽחַיָּ֗ה כָּל־הָרֶ֙מֶשׂ֙ וְכָל־הָע֔וֹף כֹּ֖ל רוֹמֵ֣שׂ עַל־הָאָ֑רֶץ לְמִשְׁפְּחֹ֣תֵיהֶ֔ם יָצְא֖וּ מִן־הַתֵּבָֽה׃
Every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that stirs on earth came out of the ark by families.
וָ֭אֹמַר עִם־קִנִּ֣י אֶגְוָ֑ע וְ֝כַח֗וֹל אַרְבֶּ֥ה יָמִֽים׃
I thought I would end my days with my family, And be as long-lived as the phoenix,
(ב) וכחול ארבה ימים. עוף ושמו חול ולא נקנסה עליו מיתה שלא טעם מעץ הדעת ולבסוף אלף שנה מתחד' וחוזר לנערותו:
This is reffering to a bird known as the Phoenix, and death was not placed upon it, because it had not tasted from the tree of Knowledge [at the sin of Adam and Eve]. After 1,000 years it renews, and goes into its youth.
Among the birds the phoenix is the most wonderful. When Eve gave all the animals some of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, the phoenix was the only bird that refused to eat thereof, and he was rewarded with eternal life. When he has lived a thousand years, his body shrinks, and the feathers drop from it, until he is as small as an egg. This is the nucleus of the new bird.
ובמדרש אף לכל בהמה חיה ועוף נתנה וזהו רבוי גם. חוץ מעוף אחד ששמו חול שלא אכל הה"ד (איוב כט) ואומר עם קני אגוע וכחול ארבה ימים. ר' יודן בשם ר"ש אמר חול זה חי אלף שנים לסוף אלף שנים גופו כלה וכנפיו מתמרטין ומשתייר בו כביצה וחוזר ומגדל אבריו ע"כ.
According to Bereshit Rabbah 19,5 the word גם teaches that she also gave to all the animals from the fruit of that tree. According to that Midrash there was only a single bird called חול which did not eat from the fruit of that tree. This fact is alluded to in Job 29,18 ואמר עם קני אגוע וכחול ארבה ימים, ”I thought I would die together with my family (my nest), and be as long-lived as the bird חול, phoenix.” According to Rabbi Yudan this bird has a life span of 1000 years. At the end of that time fire erupts in its nest and less than the size of egg of it remains before it regenerates itself.
אריא אישתא זינתיה דאמר רב לא בציר משיתא ולא טפי מתריסר זינא אישתא אורשינה אשכחיניה אבא דגני בספנא דתיבותא א"ל לא בעית מזוני א"ל חזיתיך דהות טרידא אמינא לא אצערך א"ל יהא רעוא דלא תמות שנאמר (איוב כט, יח) ואומר עם קני אגוע וכחול ארבה ימים
With regard to the lion, a fever sustained it, since when it suffered from a fever, it did not need to eat; as Rav said: For no fewer than six days and no more than twelve days, fever sustains a person; he need not eat and is sustained from his own fats. Shem continued: With regard to the phoenix [avarshina], my father found it lying in its compartment on the side of the ark. He said to the bird: Do you not want food? The bird said to him: I saw that you were busy, and I said I would not trouble you by requesting food. Noah said to the bird: May it be God’s will that you shall not die, and through that bird the verse was fulfilled, as it is stated: “And I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the phoenix” (Job 29:18).
The phoenix is also called "the guardian of the terrestrial sphere." He runs with the sun on his circuit, and he spreads out his wings and catches up the fiery rays of the sun. If he were not there to intercept them, neither man nor any other animate being would keep alive. On his right wing the following words are inscribed in huge letters, about four thousand stadia high: "Neither the earth produces me, nor the heavens, but only the wings of fire." His food consists of the manna of heaven and the dew of the earth. His excrement is a worm, whose excrement in turn is the cinnamon used by kings and princes. Enoch, who saw the phoenix birds when he was translated, describes them as flying creatures, wonderful and strange in appearance, with the feet and tails of lions, and the heads of crocodiles; their appearance is of a purple color like the rainbow; their size nine hundred measures. Their wings are like those of angels, each having twelve, and they attend the chariot of the sun and go with him, bringing heat and dew as they are ordered by God. In the morning when the sun starts on his daily course, the phoenixes and the chalkidri sing, and every bird flaps its wings, rejoicing the Giver of light, and they sing a song at the command of the Lord. Among reptiles the salamander and the shamir are the most marvellous. The salamander originates from a fire of myrtle wood which has been kept burning for seven years steadily by means of magic arts. Not bigger than a mouse, it yet is invested with peculiar properties. One who smears himself with its blood is invulnerable, and the web woven by it is a talisman against fire. The people who lived at the deluge boasted that, were a fire flood to come, they would protect themselves with the blood of the salamander.