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Webster 1913 Edition
Bernicle
Ber′ni-cle
,Noun.
[OE.
bernak
, bernacle
; cf. OF. bernac
; prob. fr. LL. bernacula
for hibernicula
, bernicula
, fr. Hibernia
; the birds coming from Hibernia
or Ireland. Cf. 1st Barnacle
.] A bernicle goose.
[Written also
barnacle
.] Bernicle goose
(Zool.)
, a goose (
Branta leucopsis
), of Arctic Europe and America. It was formerly believed that it hatched from the cirripeds of the sea (Lepas
), which were, therefore, called barnacles, goose barnacles, or Anatifers. The name is also applied to other related species. See Anatifa
and Cirripedia
.