The source usually cited is the sixteenth century chronicle tradition associated with Holinshed. Mysterious Britain quotes it as saying that in the month of November, in the Isle of Portland not far from the town of Weymouth, was seen a cock coming out of the sea, having a great crest upon his head and a great red beard, and legs of half a yard long, which stood on the water and crowed four times.
Popular retellings enlarge the creature. The Classic.co.uk myths page says it was half person and half chicken and as tall as four or five men, which is not in the chronicle wording quoted by Mysterious Britain. That page also says it bobbed its head around the points of the compass before sinking, and Mysterious Britain says it crowed and then vanished. Mysterious Britain notes that shortly afterwards unusual fish were caught at Erith near London, which fits a chronicler collecting sea portents.
The page also mentions a later find on the coast that was said to be a camel, but I could not confirm that anywhere I read, so I have left it out. There is no other contemporary record and no later sightings, so this is a single medieval portent report. A different Dorset item, the 1757 mermaid at Chesil Beach, is a separate record on this site.
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