BARNACLES. 249 
the tree; some of them were rude, as they were new- 
shapen ; some had both head, feet, and wings, but they 
had no feathers ; some of them were perfect-shapen fowls. 
At last the people, having this tree each day in more 
admiration, brought it to the kirk of St. Andrew’s, beside 
the town of Tyre, where it yet remains to our days.” 
Other instances he adduces by way of proof, and at length 
he comes to the conclusion, that the production of these 
geese from fruits is the erroneous opinion of the ignorant ; 
it being ascertained that “they are produced only by the 
nature of the ocean sea, which is the cause and production 
of many wonderful things.” 
In this view he was supported by Turner and others: 
“When,” says Turner, “at a certain time an old ship, or 
a plank, or a pine-mast rots in the sea, something like a 
little fungus at first makes its appearance, which at length 
puts on the manifest form of birds ; afterwards these are 
clothed with feathers, and at last become living and flying 
fowl.” (“ Avium Preecip. Hist.,” Art. “ ANSER.”) Turner, 
however, does not give up the goose-tree, but informs Gesner , 
that it is a different bird from the brent or bernicle goose, 
which takes its origin from it. (Gesner, “De Avibus,” iii. 
p. 107.) Passing a host of other authorities, with their 
accumulated proofs, and the depositions of unimpeachable 
witnesses, we may come to Gerard, who, in 1597, pub- 
lished the following account in his “ Herball, or Generall 
Historie of Plantes ” :— 
KK 
