. The birds of Iona & Mull . the Harp Seal, and suggesting the possibility of itshaving been the Grey Seal (Halichairus). After this I made allthe inquiries I could upon the subject, and got at least three prettyauthentic cases of the capture of a White Seal of extraordinarysize—the best one being in Loch Scridain, Mull, by MrMKinnon, a farmer whom I am acquainted with. In theseinquiries I have ascertained that the Western Islanders arefamiliar with three species of Seal—viz., Ta-beist, Bon, and is the name generally applied by the natives to a largeSeal, far bigger than the Co
. The birds of Iona & Mull . the Harp Seal, and suggesting the possibility of itshaving been the Grey Seal (Halichairus). After this I made allthe inquiries I could upon the subject, and got at least three prettyauthentic cases of the capture of a White Seal of extraordinarysize—the best one being in Loch Scridain, Mull, by MrMKinnon, a farmer whom I am acquainted with. In theseinquiries I have ascertained that the Western Islanders arefamiliar with three species of Seal—viz., Ta-beist, Bon, and is the name generally applied by the natives to a largeSeal, far bigger than the Common Seal, also breeding at a differentseason, and varying in many of its habits. This Gaelic word iscompounded of the obsolete word ta (water), which still survivesin the name of Loch Tay, and perhaps in the Eiver Teign—ta a n,and heist (beast)—Water beast. Under this title I suspect theyconfound the Grey Seal {Halichairus), the Great Bearded Seal(Barhatus), and perhaps the Harp Seal; in fact, anything which &*. LETTER XXIII. 169 is neither the Common Seal or Hon (pro-nounced Bet/urn), or the Lesser Sealor Bodach. This word signi- *-;K fies old man, though it is .IN used in other senses, as when ap-plied to a scarecrow, a hobgoblin, a red rock codfish, &c. In thisinstance it designates a peculiar dwarf seal, very much smallerthan the Common Seal, though consorting with it, and readilygiving the impression of its being merely the young of thatspecies. It is, however, now generally recognised as being quitedistinct. The minister of Colonsay assured me that he was wellacquainted with it, as were all the islanders. Mr James Wilson1also mentions that he frequently killed them of the size of aCommon Seal at three months old, though they had grey beardsand decayed teeth, that were few in number, and remarks thatthey were not so shy as the Common Seal, nor so solitary as theTapvaist (Ta-bcist). Towards the end of March last I received a fresh skin of arecently killed young Sea
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