368 HABITS OP BIRDS. 



are produced, at first unformed, but gradually ac- 

 quiring' the shape of birds, and when they are of 

 some bigness they hang a short time by the beak 

 and then fall into the water, where they become living 

 birds. All which, being affirmed by men of credit, 

 I not only dare believe myself, but also persuade 

 others to believe *." 



A more recent English authority is that of 

 Gerard, the botanist, who has an express article in 

 his celebrated Herbal " upon the goose-tree," with 

 which our readers, we think, may be both amused 

 and surprised. "What our eyes have seen," says 

 Gerard, " and hands have touched, we shall declare. 

 There is a small island in Lancashire, called the 

 Pile of Foulders, wherein are found broken pieces of 

 old and bruised ships, some whereof have been cast 

 thither by shipwreck, and 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 mussel, but sharper 

 pointed, and of a whitish colour, wherein is con- 

 tained a thing in form like a lace of silk finely 

 woven as it were together, of a whitish colour; one 

 end wereof is fastened unto the inside of the shell, 

 even as the fish of oysters and mussel 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 foresaid lace or string ; next come 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 maturity, and falleth 

 into the sea, where it gathereth feathers, and groweth 

 * Gesner, De Avibus, iii. 107, &c. 



