Note 4 — IV The Zenith

The reference is to the passage in Gerarde’s “Herbal,” giving an account of the miraculous origin of the Solan Goose. It runs: “But what our eyes have seen and hands have touched we shall declare. There is a small island in Lancashire called the Pile of Foulders, wherein are found the 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 a mussel, but sharper pointed, and of a whitish colour wherein is contained 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 to 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 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 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 bill or beak, and feathers black and white, spotted in such manner as is our Magpie... which the people of Lancashire call by no other name than a tree goose; which place aforesaid and all those parts adjoining do so much abound therewith, that one of the best is 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 good witnesses” (Gerarde’s “Herbal,” A.D. 1636, p. 1588, chap. 171. “Of the Goose Tree, Barnacle Tree, or the Tree-bearing Goose”).

A solan goose was looked upon for many years as a delicacy. Pennant states that about the middle of the seventeenth century a young one was sold for 20d. He also quotes the following newspaper cutting:—“Solan Goose.—There is to be sold by John Walton, Jun., at his stand at the Poultry, Edinburgh, all lawful days in the week, wind and weather serving, good and fresh solan geese. Any who have occasion for the same, may have them at reasonable rates.—Aug. 5, 1768.”