. The birds of Iona & Mull. Birds. 168 THE BIRDS OF lONA AND MULL. a letter from Mr Edward Newman asserting the improbability of its being the Harp Seal, and suggesting the possibility of its having been the Grey Seal (ffaliehcBncs). After this I made all the inquiries I could upon the subject, and got at least three pretty authentic cases of the capture of a " White Seal of extraordinary size"—the best one being in Loch Scridain, Mull, by Mr M'Kinnon, a farmer whom I am acquainted with. In these inquiries I have ascertained that the Western Islanders are familiar with three spec
. The birds of Iona & Mull. Birds. 168 THE BIRDS OF lONA AND MULL. a letter from Mr Edward Newman asserting the improbability of its being the Harp Seal, and suggesting the possibility of its having been the Grey Seal (ffaliehcBncs). After this I made all the inquiries I could upon the subject, and got at least three pretty authentic cases of the capture of a " White Seal of extraordinary size"—the best one being in Loch Scridain, Mull, by Mr M'Kinnon, a farmer whom I am acquainted with. In these inquiries I have ascertained that the Western Islanders are familiar with three species of Seal—viz., Ta-heist, Eon, and Bodach. Ta-beist is the name generally applied by the natives to a large Seal, far bigger than the Common Seal, also breeding at a different season, and varying in many of its habits. This Gaelic word is compounded of the obsolete word ta (water), which still survives in the name of Loch Tay, and perhaps in the Eiver Teign—ta a 'n, and beist (beast)—Water beast. Under this title I suspect they confound the Grey Seal (H'alichcerus), the Great Bearded Seal (Barbatus), and perhaps the Harp Seal; in fact, anything which. i;jjj,„ c^a ^S^TTj;^. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Graham, Henry Davenport, l825-1872. Edinburgh, D. Douglas
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1890
