MONSTERS AND SUPERSTITIONS. 



741 



of the sea. Our credulous forefathers were persuaded that 

 there was one of these growing in Scotland or the Orkneys, 

 the fruits of which, as large as eggs and having the same 

 shape, opened at maturity and allowed each a little duck to 

 escape. 



The vulgar would not have dared to doubt such a fact, 

 for it was quoted by the most renowned scholars. Sebas- 

 tian Munster attests the truth of it in his great work on 

 " Cosmography." 



269. The Bird-Tree. Facsimile of the Sketch in Sebastian Munster's Cosmography. 



" We find," he says, " trees in Scotland which produce a 

 fruit enveloped in leaves, and when it drops into the water 

 at a suitable time it takes life and is turned into a live bird, 

 which they call a tree-bird." In order to produce a still 

 fuller proof, the writer himself gives a drawing of it ! We 

 see the young ducks opening the fruits in order to escape, 

 whilst the newly-hatched ones swim in the water near at 

 hand ! 



