

CHAP. CV. CORYLA'CE^E.' ^UF/RCUS. J829 



states ' that certain trees grow in Vomonia, near Scotland, towards the 

 north, whose fruit, falling into the water, is turned into a bird.' Guadaguigua, 

 an Italian author, affirms the like of the leaves of another tree; and Ruillius, 

 in the 38th chapter of the 1 2th book of his History of Plants, mentions trees 

 that ' bear cockles of which birds are produced.' This fable has been va- 

 riously reported ; and, among the Philosophical Conferences of the Virtuosi of 

 France, the subject is formally discussed, and many authorities cited, * con- 

 cerning those trees of the Hebrides ; the wood whereof, being rotted in the 

 sea, is turned into birds like ducks.' ^Eneas Sylvius, in his History of Eu- 

 rope, says that he asked ' James VI. of Scotland touching those tree birds 

 reported to be bred there ; and learned from word of mouth of that learned 

 king, that those trees grew not there, but in the Orcades; whereupon ^Eneas 

 truly and handsomely replied, Miracula fugiunt.' Our countryman, Gerard, 

 however, gives an excellent version of this story; and his testimony shall be 

 preferred, as being that of an eyewitness ; for his statement, he expressly 

 declares, was drawn lip in chief part from actual observation." (Amcen. Quer., 

 fol. 20.) The quotation from Gerard is as follows: " There are found in the 

 north of Scotland, and islands adjacent called Orchades, certain trees whereon 

 do grow certain shells tending to russet, wherein are contained little living 

 creatures ; which shells, in time of maturitie, do open, and out of them do grow 

 those little living things, which, falling into the water, do become fowles, 

 which we call barnakles ; in the north of England, brant geese ; and in Lanca- 

 shire, tree geese ; but the other that do come fall upon the land, perish, and 

 come to nothing. Thus much from the writings of others, and also from the 

 mouths of people of those parts, which may very well accord with truth." 

 He then subjoins the following account of what he solemnly affirms he had 

 not only seen, but touched : " There is a small island in Lancashire, called 

 the Pile of Foulders, wherein are found the broken pieces of old and bruised 

 ships, some wtereof have been cast there by shipwracke ; and also the trunks 

 and bodies, with the branches, of old and rotten trees, cast up there likewise; 

 whereon is found a certain spawn, or froth, that in time breaketh into certain 

 shells, in shape like those of the muskle, but sharper-pointed, and of a whitish 

 colour, wherein is contained a thing in form like a lace of silke, finely woven 

 as it were together, of a whitish colour, one end whereof is fastened unto the 

 inside of the shell, even as the fish of oisters and muskles ; the other end is made 

 fast unto the belly of a rude mass, or lumpe, 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 is 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 fowl bigger than a mallard, and lesser 

 than a goose, having black legs, bill, or beake, and feathers black and white, 

 spotted in such a manner as our magpie ; called in some places a pie-annet ; 

 which the people of Lancashire call by no other name than a tree goose ; which 

 place aforesaid, and the parts adjoining, do much abound therewith, that one 

 of the best is bought for three halfpence. For the truth hereof, if any doubt, 

 let them repaire to me, and I shall satisfie them 

 by the testimonie of good witnesses." (Her- 

 ball, p. 1588.) Gerard gives a curious cut of 

 the barnacle, with the head of the goose peep- 

 ing out. This extraordinary fable took its 

 risefrom a mollusc (Z/epas anatffera^gs. 1653. 

 and 1654.) being frequently found attached 

 to pieces of oak wood that had fallen into 



the sea, and which animal had a kind of 16.53 



fibrous beard, something like the feathers of a 

 bird. Fig. 1655., which represents a species of 

 .Lepas, supposed to be new, that was taken 



6c 4 



