480 



ANSERID^. 



on the ear when the cries of a large flock come from a 

 considerable distance." In England it is far less common, 

 but occasionally resorts to marshes both on the eastern 

 and western coast. Tlie mythical fragment of ancient 

 natural history, that the Bernicle is the product of a tree, 

 is too trite to require repetition here. It is not, however, 

 so generally known, that this fable was thus summarily 



THE BERNICLE GOOSE. 



disposed of nearly two hundred years ago, 1676, by Ray 

 and Willughby : — " What has been published concerning 

 the origin of these birds, namely, that they are produced 

 either from rotten wood, the masts, beams, and planks 

 of old ships decayed in the ocean, or from fruits which 

 have fallen froin trees into the sea, or from certain marine 

 shells, of which Lobelius, Gerard and others, have given 



