THE SOLAND GOOSE. 367 



the ends black, fringed with white at the tip. The rump, tail, 

 and legs, are black. 



The Bernacle geese are not uncommon on many of the 

 northern and western coasts of this kingdom, in winter ; but 

 they are scarce in the south, and only seen in inclement seasons. 

 They leave our island in February, and retire northward to 

 breed. 



Of all the marvellous productions which ignorance, ever cre- 

 dulous, has so long substituted for the simple and truly wonder- 

 ful operations of nature, the most absurd, and yet not the least 

 celebrated, is the assertion of the growth of these birds, in a kind 

 of shell, called lepas anatifera (goose-bearing shell), on certain 

 trees on the coasts of Scotland and the Orkneys, or on the rotten 

 timbers of old ships. 



Numerous writers have mentioned and credited these circum- 

 stances : one of these, Maier, who has written a treatise expressly 

 on this bird, says, that it certainly originates from shells : and, 

 what is still more wonderful, that he himself opened a hundred 

 of the goose-bearing shells in the Orkneys, and found in all o>f 

 them the rudiments of the bird completely formed ! 



OF THE GANNET, OR SOLAND GOOSE. 



The Gannet is of the size of a tame goose, but its wings much 

 longer, being six feet over. The bill is six inches long, straight 

 almost to the point, where it inclines down, and the sides are 

 irregularly jagged, that it may hold its prey with greater seen* 



