i 7 6 



CURIOUS CREATURES. 



that that falleth on earth, dyeth, and they marvailed 

 much thereat." And the Friar, in continuation of his 

 story of the Borometz, says : " Even as I my selfe have 

 heard reported that there stand certaine trees upon the 



shore of the Irish Sea, bearing fruit like unto a gourd, 

 which at a certaine time of the yeere doe fall into the 

 water, and become birds called Bernacles, and this is 

 most true." 



Olaus Magnus, in speaking of the breeding of Ducks 

 in Scotland, says : " Moreover, another Scotch Historian, 

 who diligently sets down the secret of things, saith that 

 in the Orcades, (the Orkneys) Ducks breed of a certain 



