Barnacle Geese Myth

A myth about the origins of the Barnacle goose is that the Barnacle Geese emerge fully formed from the common Barnacle (Cirripedia).[1] The migration patterns of may birds including the Barnacle Geese were not fully known until the late 19th or early 20th centuries. [2] Early medieval accounts of migration often drew on popular myths to explain why some birds seemed to disappear and then reappear during the year. [3] The origins of the myth go back to the 2nd century BCE. The myth was popularised in the early 12th century by Gerald of Wales. Subsequent descriptions in medieval Bestiaries caused may scholars and historians to repeat and enlarge on the myth.

From Topographia Hibernica British Library MS 13 B VIII

Pope Pius II

In 1435, Aeneas Silvius Bartholomeus [4], travelled to Scotland to encourage James I of Scotland to assist the French in the “Hundred Years War”. He spent several months travelling around Britain. and recorded these travels in his book entitled "de Europa". A short section of the book is devoted to Scotland and Ireland. He described James as “ … a sickly man weighed down by a fat punch ..”. He noted the cold inhospitable climate of Scotland and “ .. semi-naked paupers who were begging outside churches (and) went away happily after receiving stones as alms…”. [5] Continuing in this vein, he records the following story:

" …I … heard that in Scotland there was once a tree growing on the bank of a river which produced fruits shaped like ducks. [6] [7] "When these were nearly ripe, they dropped down of their own accord, some onto the earth, and some into the water. Those that landed on the earth rotted away, but those that sank into the water instantly came to life, swam out from below the water, and immediately flew into the air, equipped with feathers and wings. When I eagerly investigated this matter, I learned that miracles always recede further into the distance and that the famous tree was to be found not in Scotland but in the Orkney islands…"

It is believed that this story from Pope Pius II is the first recorded account of the Barnacle Geese myth in Scotland. [8]

Hector Boece

Some 75 years later, Hector Boece in his "Scotorum Historiae a Prima Gentis Origine" [9] gave further credence to this story with an account of a discussion he had with his friend and colleague Canon Alexander Galloway [10] on an island in what is now called the Western Isles [11]. The event, if it occurred, was sometime between c.1506x1520. Boece allows Galloway in the narrative to give two contrasting accounts of the geese story. Boece records:

" …. It remains for me (Boece) to discuss those geese commonly called clacks, (claiks) which are commonly but wrongly imagined to be born on trees in these islands, on the basis of what I have learned from my diligent investigation of this thing. ….. I will not hesitate to describe something I myself witnessed seven years ago… Alexander Galloway, parson of Kinkell, who, besides being a man of outstanding probity, is possessed of an unmatched zeal for studying wonders… When he was pulling up some driftwood and saw that seashells were clinging to it from one end to the other, he was surprised by the unusual nature of the thing, and, out of a zeal to understand it, opened them up, whereupon he was more amazed than ever, for within them he discovered, not sea creatures, but rather birds, of a size similar to the shells that contained them …. small shells contained birds of a proportionately small size….. So, he quickly ran to me, whom he knew to be gripped with a great curiosity for investigating suchlike matters and revealed the entire thing to me…..”

[12] The Claik or Clack Geese [13] as they were known to Boece survived scrutiny during the Scottish Enlightenment. The age of the myth and the lack of empirical evidence on Bird migration led to several other accounts of the origins of Barnacle Geese being common until the 20th century.

See also

There is a comprehensive database of Wikipedia pages relevant to Barnacle Geese starting at Bird migration.

References
  1. Not to be confused with the Goose Barnacle
  2. There are three patterns of migration known. 1. Breeding in eastern Greenland, wintering on the Hebrides of western Scotland and in western Ireland, population about 40,000. 2. Breeding on Svalbard, wintering on the Solway Firth on the England/Scotland border, population about 24,000. 3. Breeding on Novaya Zemlya, wintering in the Netherlands, population about 130,000 Research published in 2019 suggests that due to climatic conditions, the migration patterns are changing. (See, Tombre, I M;  Oudman, T;  Shimmings, P; Griffin, L. 2019. 'Northward range expansion in spring staging barnacle geese is a response to climatic change ……', Global Change Biology: 1-14.) This may result on fewer geese wintering in Scotland. It is not possible to estimate how many geese would have migrated to Scotland in the sixteenth century.
  3. A similar situation arose with the common eel. (Anguilla anguilla) It is still unknown for certain these how eels breed. It is assumed that they do so in the Sargasso Sea. Myths regarding eels have been part of the Irish tradition since the time of Gerald of Wales who is largely responsible for the propagation of the Barnacle Geese myth. See. McCarthy, T. Kieran. 2014. 'Eels and People in Ireland: From Mythology to International Eel Stock Conservation.' in Katsumi Tsukamoto and Mari Kuroki (eds.), Eels and Humans (Springer Japan: Tokyo). (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54529-3_2); also, Gerald of Wales and John O'Meara. The History and Topography of Ireland. (https://nls.ldls.org.uk/welcome.html?ark:/81055/vdc_100048951405.0x000001) 5/06/2019, In the United Kingdom, the BBC carried an item concerning the Loch Ness Monster that concluded that this monster may be an eel. See, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-49495145
  4. Better known as Pope Pius II, Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini (1405-1464). He wrote two books, “Florence A. Gragg, and Leona C. Gabel. 1988. Secret memoirs of a Renaissance Pope : the commentaries of Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, Pius II : an abridgement (Folio Society: London) and, “Piccolomini, Aeneas Silvius, Robert Brown, Nancy Bisaha, and ProQuest (Firm). "Europe (c. 1400-1458)”
  5. Pope Pius probably saw the gift of coal to beggars and Bedesmen. Bedesmen were often given coal or peat to heat the rooms in their Hospital accommodation.
  6. There are differences in the original sources for this story. In some the Latin "aves" - "bird" is used; in others it is "Anetarum" derived from "anatum" - "duck"', coming from "anas/anatis"; in others, "anserum" - "goose"
  7. see also, http://mdz-nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:12-bsb10159158-6 - fol.55v, line 5
  8. See the following sources for details of the story told by Pope Pius II in "de Europa" and "Commentaries". Pius, Florence A. Gragg, and Leona C. Gabel. 1988. Secret memoirs of a Renaissance Pope : the commentaries of Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, Pius II : an abridgement (Folio Society: London); Piccolomini, Aeneas Silvius, Robert Brown, Nancy Bisaha, and ProQuest (Firm). "Europe (c. 1400-1458)." - at - http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/abdn/detail.action?docID=3135080; and, "Cosmographia, 1509, (Paris)". The book by Nancy Bisaha and Robert Brown " Europe (c. 1400-1458) contains an extensive bibliography.? The biography of Pope Pius II, Ady, Cecilia M. 1913. Pius II (Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini) : the Humanist Pope (Methuen: London). contains a Bibliography and an account of the Barnacle Geese story - p. 44.
  9. Boece, H. and G. Ferrerio (1574). Scotorum historiae a prima gentis origine ... libri XIX. Parisiis, Du Puys. The earliest version of this work about the history of Scotland dates from 1527.
  10. Canon Alexander Galloway was an eminent scholar and canon priest in St Machar's Cathedral in Old Aberdeen. He is best remembered as a liturgist, master of works and academic to Bishops of Aberdeen from Elphinstone to Gordon.
  11. sometimes called Thule
  12. There are a number of editions of Boece’s History of Scotland. John Bellenden and Raphael Holinshead provide the basis many editions. The 1575 edition by John Ferrier is used for reference in this entry. A modern translation from the Latin is provided by Dana Sutton http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/boece/ is also used. Two sources are recommended for the “Claik Geese” story: Alasdair M. Stewart, 'Hector Boece and “Claik” Geese', Northern Scotland, 8 (First Series) (1988); and, Edward Heron Allen, Barnacles in Nature and in Myth (London,1928). NB: The Mar Lodge edition of Historia does not contain the story of the geese. This volume is now in the Morgan Library and Museum, New York. A recent edition of Boece's story about the Barnacle Geese can be found in, Dana F. Sutton, Hector Boethius, - Scotorum Historia (1575 version) http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/boece/, 2010), Ch. 33 & 34. The text above is a translation from Alasdair M. Stewart (1988), pp. 17-23.
  13. Barnacle Geese are known in Scots language as “Claik Geese”. “Claik” is the Scots word for a barnacle. See, "Claik goose n. comb.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/claik_goose>, [Accessed 1 Nov 2017]; The OED gives a wider variety of explanation including the sound made by Barnacle Geese (Anas leucopsis)"claik, n." OED Online, Oxford University Press, June 2017
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