THE fcERNACLE GOOSE. 233 



Sir Robert Murray's account. 



the water, that it was very dry; and most of the 

 shells that had formerly covered it were worn or 

 rubbed off; Only on the parts that lay next the 

 ground, there still huiii* multitudes of little shells: 

 they were of the colour and consistence of mus- 

 cle-shells. This barnacle-shell is thin about the 

 edges, and about half as thick as broad. Every 

 one of the shells hath some cross seams or sutures, 

 which, as I remember, divide it into five parts. 

 These parts are fastened one to another, with 

 such a film as muscle-shells are. 



" These shells are hung at the trees by a neck, 

 longer than the shell; of a kind of a filmy sub- 

 stance, round and hollow, and creased not unlike 

 the windpipe of a chicken: spreading out broad- 

 est where it is fastened to the tree, from which 

 it seems to draw and convey the matter which 

 serves for the growth and vegetation of the shell 

 and little bird within it. 



" In every shell that I opened, 1 found a per- 

 fect sea-fowl : the little bill, like that of a goose ; 

 the eyes marked; the head, neck, breast, wing, 

 tail, and feet, formed; the feathers, every where 

 perfectly shaped and blackish-coloured; and the 

 feet, like those of other water-fowl, to the best 

 of my remembrance." 



Few subjects seem to have been more circum- 

 stantially related, or to rest on better evidence, 

 than the above; so natural to man is credulity, 

 which passes all bounds where the prodigy of an 

 .event takes firm hold of the imagination, and 



VOL. iV. - NO. 27. 2 G 



