The passage referring to "the barnacle" will be found in the _Topog.
Hiber._ lib. i. e. xi. I annex a translation of it, as it may be
considered interesting, when compared with the passages quoted in
Brand:--
"There are," says Giraldus, "in this country (Ireland) a great
number of birds called barnacles (Bernacre), and which nature
produces in a manner that is contrary to the laws of nature. The
birds are not unlike to ducks, but they are somewhat smaller in
size. They make their first appearance as drops of gum upon the
branches of firs that are immersed in running waters; and then they
are next seen hanging like sea-weed from the wood, becoming encased
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.
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