BERNACLE. 367 



wards these are clothed with feathers, and at last 

 become living and flying fowl. Should this appear 

 to any one to be fabulous, we might adduce the 

 testimony not only of the whole people who dwell on 

 the coasts of England, Ireland, and Scotland, but 

 also that of the illustrious historiographer Gyraldus, 

 who has written so eloquently the history of Ireland, 

 that the bernicles are produced in no other way. 

 But since it is not very safe to trust to popular re- 

 ports, and as I was, considering the singularity of the 

 thing, rather sceptical even with respect to the tes- 

 mony of Gyraldus, while I was thinking over the 

 subject, I consulted Octavian, an Irish clergyman, 

 whose strict integrity gave me the utmost confidence 

 in him, as to whether he considered Gyraldus worthy 

 to be trusted in what he had written. This clergy- 

 man then professed himself ready to take his oath 

 upon the Gospels, that what Gyraldus had recorded 

 of the generation of this bird was most true ; for he 

 himself had seen with his eyes, and also handled 

 those half-formed birds ; and he said farther, that if 

 I remained a couple of months longer in London, 

 he would have some of them sent to me*." 



After the publication of his own work on birds, 

 the same Turner wrote to the celebrated Gesner, 

 affirming that "the bernicle or brant is produced in 

 the manner of mushrooms, from rotten ships," and 

 that u these are everywhere to be found along the 

 coasts of Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, still im- 

 perfect and without feathers, but with the distinct form 

 of birds.' 1 Turner further informs Gesner, that 

 "besides the brant or bernicle, there is another 

 bird," we suppose he means the solan goose or gan- 

 net (Pelecanus bassanus), " which takes its origin 

 from a tree. These trees grow upon the sea-coast of 

 Scotland, upon which small bodies like mushrooms 

 * Avium Praecip. Hist. Art. Anser. 



