12 DICTIONARY OF NAMES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



of their appearing at the time of barley-sowing. It has 

 also been applied by Willughby to the SISKIN. The 

 name " Barley-seed Bird " for the YELLOW WAGTAIL 

 is found in Carr's " Craven Dialect," 1828. 



BARLEY SNAKE-BIRD : The WRYNECK. (Hants.) 



BARNACLE, or BARNACLE GOOSE. The BRENT GOOSE is 

 sometimes so called, especially in Ireland. 



BARNACLE-GOOSE [No. 282]. The name Barnacle or 

 Bernacle has been considered to have its origin in the 

 ancient belief that this goose was generated from the 

 shell-fish of that name (Lepas anatifera) which are found 

 adhering in clusters to floating timber, etc., the prevalent 

 belief for some centuries being that these shell-fish were 

 the embryo geese which grew upon trees, termed " goose - 

 trees," and as Gerard in his "Herbal" (1597) states, "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," etc. Turner, 

 who calls it " Bernicle " ("Avium Prsecip. Hist.," 1544), 

 writing from the evidence of a " certain man of upright 

 conduct," confirms the same tale put forth originally by 

 Giraldus Cambrensis (ca. 1175) and remarks that no one 

 has seen the Bernicle's nest or egg as evidence of this 

 spontaneous generation. For an interesting account of 

 the fable see Harting's "Birds of Shakespeare," pp. 246-57, 

 1871. Dr. Murray points out that the oldest known 

 English form of the word is the Bernekfa (Latinised Bernaca] 

 of Giraldus Cambrensis in the reference cited above, and 

 he remarks that the Cirriped took its name from the bird 

 and not the bird from the Cirriped, which of course leaves 

 the derivation of the bird's name still a moot point. 

 Willughby and Ray call it the " Bernacle or Clakis : Bernicla 

 seu Bernacla." It is figured by Lobel, Gerard and many 

 other old authors. Seemingly an allusion to the above 

 fable is to be found in the diary of Peter Suavenius during 

 his mission in these islands (printed in Appdx. to 45th Rept. 

 of Deputy Keeper of Public Records) where it is recorded 

 that " there are trees in Scotland from which birds are 

 produced . . . those birds which fall from the trees into 

 the water become animated, but those which fall to the 

 ground do not : the figures of birds are sometimes found 

 in the heart of the wood of the trees and on the roots : the 

 birds themselves do not generate." 



