122 SEA FABLES EXPLAINED. 



some bird. From this slight origin arose the story that 

 they contained real birds : what grew on trees people soon 

 asserted to be the fruit of trees, and, from step to step, the 

 story gained credit with the hearers," till, at length, Gerard 

 had the audacity to say that he had witnessed the trans- 

 formation. 



The Barnacle Goose is only a winter visitor of Great 

 Britain. It breeds in the far north, in Greenland, Iceland, 

 Spitzbergen, and Nova Zembla, and probably, also, along 

 the shores of the White Sea. There are generally some 

 specimens of this prettily-marked goose in the gardens of 

 the Zoological Society in the Regent's Park, London ; and 

 they thrive there, and become very tame. In the months 

 of December and January these geese may often be seen 

 hanging for sale in poulterers' shops ; and he who has tasted 

 one well cooked may be pardoned if the suspicion cross 

 his mind that the " monks of old," and " the bare-footed 

 friars," as well as the laity, may not have been unwilling to 

 sustain the fiction in order that they might conserve the 

 privilege of having on their tables during the long fast of 

 Lent so agreeable and succulent a " vegetable " or " fish " 

 as a Barnacle Goose. 



THE END. 



LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, 

 STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. 



