358 



WEB-rOOTED BIRDS. 



^neas Sylvius, however, shrewdly relates, that chancing 

 to be in Scotland, he inquired particularly for the place of 

 the wonderful metamorphosis of the Barnacle, but was re- 

 ferred to the remote Hebrides and Orkneys, so that as he 

 sought to advance, the miracle retired before him. 



As the Barnacles breed in the hyperborean regions, no 

 person for a long time had observed their birth, or seen their 

 nests; and the Dutch, in a voyage which extended to the 

 80th degree, were the first who discovered their place of 

 retirement for the purposes of incubation. Yet they pro- 

 bably breed in Norway, if it be true as Pontoppidan relates, 

 that they are seen there the whole summer. They are also 

 believed to breed in Lapland, the north of Russia, and 

 Iceland. They are seen on the coasts of England, Ireland 

 and France, in autumn, are particularly abundant at that 

 season in Holland, and are caught in their passages, by nets 

 stretched across the rivers. 



Length of the Barnacle about 2 feet 1 or 2 inches. The front, 

 sides of the head and throat pure white. A small stripe between the 

 eye and bill, occiput, nape, neck, upper part of the breast, tail and 

 quills, black. Feathers of the back, scapulars and wings of an ashy- 

 grey from their origin, with a wide black band towards their ends, 

 and all tipped with whitish-grey. Lower parts pure white, with the 

 exception of the flanks which have a cinereous tint. Bill and feet 

 black. Iris blackish-brown. 



The young of the year, have between the eye and the bill a wide 

 blackish band, formed of small spots. Some blackish points upon 

 tlie front. The feathers of the back and wings terminated by a 

 band of pale rufous, upon the feathers of the flanks many more 

 cinereous tints and those deeper colored. Feet blackish-brown. 

 The females are smaller than the males. 



