COMMON BERNICLE. ol 



this subject, and the following is his account of this 

 wonderful transformation, in his own words : " What 

 our eyes have seen, and our hands have touched, we 

 shall declare. There is a small island in Lanca- 

 shire, called the Pile of Foulders, wherein are found 

 broken pieces of old and bruised ships ; some whereof 

 have been cast thither by shipwrecks ; also the trunks 

 and bodies, with the branches of old and rotten trees, 

 cast up there likewise ; whereon is found a certain 

 spume or froth, that in time breedeth unto certain 

 shells, in shape like those of the muscle, but sharper 

 pointed, and of a whitish colour, and the end whereof 

 is fastened unto the inside of the shell, even as 

 the fish of oysters and muscles are; and the other 

 end is made fast unto the belly of a rude masse or 

 lump, which in time cometh into 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 cometh the legs of 

 the bird hanging out ; and as it groweth greater, it 

 openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it has all 

 come forth, and hangeth only by the bill. In short 

 space after it cometh to full maturitie, and falleth 

 into the sea, where it gathereth feathers, and groweth 

 to a fowle, bigger than a Mallard, and lesser than a 

 Goose, having black legs, and bill or beake, and fea- 

 thers black and white, spotted in such manner as our 

 Magpie, called in some places Pie-annes, which the 

 people of Lancashire call by no other name than Sea- 

 Goose ; which place aforesaid, and all those places 

 adjoyning, do so much abound therewith, that one of 



