568 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



recorded of the generation of this bird was most true ; for he himself 

 had seen with his eyes, and also handled those half-formed birds ; and 

 he said further that, if I remained a couple of months longer in Lon- 

 don, he would have some sent to me." — (Turner's " Avium Praecip. 

 Hist.," art. " Ansr.") 



But the writer to whom we are most indebted for authentic infor- 

 mation upon this interesting subect is Gerarde, the father of English 

 botany, and author of the ' ; Herbal," a ponderous work of 1,500 pages, 

 from which the cut Fig. 2 is taken. He says : " What our eyes have 

 seen, and hands have touched, we shall declare. There is a small 

 island in Lancashire, called the Pile of Flounders, wherein are found 

 broken pieces of old and bruised ships, some whereof have been cast 

 thither by shipwreck, and 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 unto certain shells, in 

 shape like those of the mussel, but sharper pointed, and of a whitish 

 color, wherein is contained a thing in form like a lace of silk finely 

 woven, as it were, together, of a whitish color ; one end whereof is 

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

 mussels are ; the other end is made fast unto the belly of a rude mass 

 or lump, which in time cometh to the shape and form of a bird. When 

 it is perfectly formed the shell gapeth wide open, and the first thing 

 that appeareth is the aforesaid lace or string ; next come 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 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 manner as our 

 magpie, called in some places pie-annet, which the people of Lanca- 

 shire call by no other name than tree-goose ; which place aforesaid, 

 and of all those places adjoining, do so much abound therewith, that 

 one of the best is bought for threepence. For the truth thereof, if any 

 doubt, may it please them to repair to me, and I shall satisfy them by 

 the testimony of good witnesses." 



Again says Gerarde : " The historie whereof to set foorth accord- 

 ing to the woorthiness and raritie thereof, woulde not onely require a 

 large and peculiar volume, but also a deeper search into the bowels 

 of Nature than my intended purpose wil suffer me to wade into, my 

 insufficiencie also considered, leaving the historie thereof rough-hewen 

 unto some excellent men, learned in the secrets of Nature, to be both 

 fined and refined ; in the mean space take it as it falleth out, the naked 

 and bare truth, though unpolished." 



When the Royal Society of England had been established fifteen 

 years, this fable was accepted, and described in the philosophic trans- 

 actions, in 1677, by Sir Robert Murray, who says : " Being on the 



