in shells, which at last assume in their growth the outward form of
birds, and so hang on by their beaks until they are completely
covered with feathers within their shells, and when they arrive at
maturity, they either drop into the waters, or take their flight at
once into the air. Thus from the juice of this tree, combined with
the water, are they generated and receive their nutriment until
they are formed and fledged. _I have many times with my own eyes
seen several thousand of minute little bodies of these birds
attached to pieces of wood immersed in the sea, encased in their
shells, and already formed._ These then are birds that never lay
eggs, and are never hatched from eggs; and the consequence is, that
in some parts of Ireland, and at those seasons of fasting when meat
is forbidden, bishops and other religious persons feed on these
birds, because they are not fish, nor to be regarded as flesh meat.
And who can marvel that this should be so? When our first parent
was made of mud, can we be surprised that a bird should be born of
a tree?"

The notion of the _barnacle_ being considered a fish is, I am aware, one
that still prevails on the western coast of Ireland; for I remember a
friend of mine, who had spent a few weeks in Kerry, telling me of the
astonishment he experienced upon seeing pious Roman Catholics eating
barnacles on Fridays, and being assured that they were nothing else than
fishes! My friend added that they had certainly a most "fish-like
flavour," and were, therefore, very nasty birds.

W.B. MACCABE.

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