re found the broken pieces of old and bruised ships, some
whereof have been cast thither by shipwreck; and also the trunks or
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 a mussel, but
sharper pointed, and of a whitish colour; wherein is contained a thing
in form like a lace of silk finely woven as it were together, of a
whitish colour; 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 open, and the first thing that appeareth is the foresaid 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 is 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 a bill or beak, and feathers black and white,
spotted in such manner as our magpie, called in some places a
Pie-Annet, which the people of Lancashire call by no other name than a
tree-goose; which place aforesaid, and all those parts adjacent, do so
much abound therewith, that one of the best may be bought for
threepence. For the truth hereof, if any doubt, may it please them to
repair unto me, and I shall satisfy them by the testimony of credible
witnesses."--Page 1391.

Gerarde, who is doubtless Butler's authority, says elsewhere, that "in the
north parts of Scotland, and the islands called Orcades," there are certain
trees whereon these tree-geese and barnacles abound.

The conversion of the fish into a bird, however fabulous, would be scarcely
more astonishing than the metamorphosis which it actually undergoes--the
young of the little animal having no feature to identify it with its final
development. In its early stage (I quote from Carpenter's _Physiology_,
vol. i. p. 52.) it has a form not unlike that of the crab, "possessing eyes
and powers of free motion; but afterwards, becoming fixed to one spot for
the remainder of its life, it loses its eyes and for