

-i^i. 





THE liKRMCLE GOOSE.' 



As a singulur specimen of credulity and lallaclous reasoning, \vc give an extract from 

 the " Herbal" of Gerard, Avlio lived in the reign of Queen P]lizabeth : " There is," he says, 

 " a small island in Lancashire, called the Pile of Foulders (on the west side of the 

 entrance into ilorecombe-bay, about Kfteen miles south of Ulverston), wherein are found 

 the broken pieces of old and bruised ships, and also the trunks and bodies, with the 

 branches of old and rotten trees cast ujJ their likeness ; whereon is found a certain spume 

 or froth, that, in time, hardeneth unto certain shells, in [shape like those of the muskle, 

 but sharper pointed, and of a whitish colour, wherein is contained a thing in form like a 

 lace of silke, finely wove as it were together ; one end whereof is fastened unto the 

 inside of the sliell, even as the fish of oisters and musklcs are ; the other end is made fast 

 unto the belly of a rude mass or lump, which in time cometh to the shape and form of a 

 bird ; when it is perfectly formed, the shell gapeth open, and the first thing that 

 appeareth is the aforesaid lace or string ; next come the legs of the bird liauging out, and, 

 as it groweth greater, it openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it is all Come forth, 

 and hangeth only by the bill ; in short space after, it cometh to full niaturitie, and falleth 

 into the sea, where it gathereth feathers, and groweth to a fowl bigger than a 3Iallard, 

 and lesser than a Goose, which the people in Lancashire call by no other name than a 

 Tree-Goose ; which place aforesaid, and all those parts adjoining, do so much abound 

 therewith, that one of the best is bought for tliree-ioence." 



The popular error that the molluscous animal called the Bernicle contained the young 

 of a species of goose, called in consequence the Bernicle Goose, lasted for many ages, 

 and still prevails among the uneducated on the shores of all the European seas. One 



• Auscr Biriiicla. 



