RAY. 159 



when they are coming to the just measure and 

 quantity of geese, they fly in the air as other fowls 

 do, as was notably proven in the year of God 1480, 

 in sight of many people, beside the Castle of Pitsli- 

 go." The evidence of Gerard, the herbalist, on this 

 subject is an excellent specimen of leasing : — '' What 

 our eyes have seen," saith the venerable man, " and 

 our hands have touched, we shall declare. There is 

 a small island in Lancashire, called the Pile of 

 Soulders, wherein are found broken pieces of old 

 and bruised ships, some whereof have been cast 

 thither by shipwrecks ; also the trunks and bodies, 

 with the branches, of old and rotten trees, cast up 

 there likewise, whereon is found a certain spume 

 or froth, that in time breedeth into certain shells,, 

 in shape like those of the muscle, but sharper-point- 

 ed, and of a whitish colour, 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 perfectly formed, the shell 

 gapeth open, and then the first thing that appeareth 

 is the aforesaid lace or string ; next cometh the legs 

 of the bird hanging out ; and, as the bird groweth 

 greater, it openeth the shell by degrees, till at length 

 it has all come forth and hangeth only by the bill. 

 In short space after it cometh to full maturity, 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 man- 

 ner as our magpie, called in some places pie-annes, 

 which the people of Lancashire call by no other 



