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Of the numerous writers, who have mentioned and credited these circumstan- 

 ces, I shall notice three only, all of whom speak confidently and positively on 

 the subject. The first is Maier, who writes a treatise expressly on this bird: 

 he says, that it certainly originates from shells; and, what is still more wonder- 

 ful, says, "he opened a hundred of the goose-bearing shells in the Orkneys, 

 and found in all of them the rudiments of the bird completely formed." 



Gerard is another writer on this subject. His account of this miraculous 

 transformation, I here insert in his own words, which have been often quoted: 

 " What our eyes have seen, and our hands have touched, we shall declare. 

 There is a small island in Lancashire (England,) called the Pile of Foulders, 

 wherein are found broken pieces of old and bruised ships; some thereof have 

 been cast thither by shipwrecks: also, the trunks and bodies, with the branch- 

 es of old and rotting trees, cast up there likewise, whereon is formed a certain 

 spume or froth, that in time breedeth unto certain shells, in shape like 

 those of the muscle, but sharper pointed and of a whitish color; and the end 

 whereof is fastened unto the inside of the shell, even as the fish of oysters and 

 muscles are, and the other end is made fast unto the belly of a rude mass or 

 lump, which in time cometh into the shape and form of a bird: when it is per- 

 fectly formed, the shell gapeth open, and the first thing that appeareth is the 

 aforesaid lace or string; next cometh the legs of the bird, hanging out; and as 

 it groweth greater it openeth the shell by degrees, till at length it has all come 

 forth, and hangeth only by the bill: in a short space after, it cometh to maturi- 

 ty and falleth into the sea, where it gathereth feathers, and groweth to a fowl 

 bigger than a mallard, and lesser than a goose, having black legs, and bill or 

 beak, and feathers black and white, spotted in such a manner as our magpie, 

 called in some places pie-annes, which the people of Lancashire call by no oth- 

 er name than tree goose; which place aforesaid, and all those places adjoin- 

 ing, do so much abound therewith, that one of the best is bought for three 

 pence. For the truth hereof if any doubt, may it please them to repair to me, 

 and I will satisfy them by the testimonies of good witnesses." 



The last I shall mention is Sir Robert Murray's account of the barnacle, 

 inserted in the Philosophical Transactions. " In the Western Islands of 

 Scotland, the west ocean throws upon their shores great quantities of very 

 large weather-beaten timber: the most ordinary trees are wood and ash. Be- 

 ing in the Island of East, I saw lying upon the shore a cut of a large fir-tree, 



