1 1 2 The Botanical Renaissance [ch. 



feit, and last of all they schaw thair plumis and wyngis. 

 Finally quhen thay ar cumyn to the iust mesure and 

 quantite of geis, thay fle in the aire, as othir fowlis 

 dois 1 ." 



It is rather surprising to find that William Turner 

 was a believer in the same myth, although, unlike Gerard, 

 he took great pains to satisfy himself of the truth of the 

 story, which he seems to have approached with quite an 

 open mind. His account is as follows : — 



"When after a certain time the firwood masts or planks 

 or yard-arms of a ship have rotted on the sea, then fungi, 

 as it were, break out upon them first, in which in course of 

 time one may discern evident forms of birds, which after- 

 wards are clothed with feathers, and at last become alive 

 and fly. Now lest this should seem fabulous to anyone, 

 besides the common evidence of all the long-shore men of 

 England, Ireland, and Scotland, that renowned historian 

 Gyraldus, ...bears witness that the generation of the 

 Bernicles is none other than this. But inasmuch as it 

 seemed hardly safe to trust the vulgar and by reason of 

 the rarity of the thing I did not quite credit Gyraldus, ... I 

 took counsel of a certain man, whose upright conduct, 

 often proved by me, had justified my trust, a theologian 

 by profession and an Irishman by birth, Octavian by name, 

 whether he thought Gyraldus worthy of belief in this affair. 

 Who, taking oath upon the very Gospel which he taught, 

 answered that what Gyraldus had reported of the generation 

 of this bird was absolutely true, and that with his own eyes 

 he had beholden young, as yet but rudely formed, and 

 also handled them, and, if I were to stay in London for a 

 month or two, that he would take care that some growing 

 chicks should be brought in to me 2 ." 



The Goose Tree is also figured by de l'Obel and 

 d'Alechamps, but it is refreshing to find that Colonna in 



1 Hector Boethius, 'Heir beginnis the hystory and croniklis of Scotland... 

 Translatit laitly in our vulgar and commoun langage, be maister Johne 

 Bellenden...And Imprentit in Edinburgh, be me Thomas Davidson' [1536] 

 (Cap. XIV. of the 'Cosmographie'). 



2 'Turner on Birds:... first published by Doctor William Turner, 1544.' 

 Edited by A. H. Evans, Cambridge, p. 27, 1903. [The original passage will 

 be found in Avium praecipuarum...Per Dn. Guilielmum Turnerum,... Colonise 

 excudebat loan. Gymnicus, 1544.] 



