NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 97 



This Skeir na Taibheist is out of gunshot of any of the other rocks 

 in the Sound, bearing witness to the superior sagacity and wariness 

 of this species, as observed by the natives and those who have been 

 in the custom of hunting them constantly in the Sound of Harris. 

 In the Sound the Haskeir seals go very much more in pairs than the 

 common species, but at Haskeir this cannot be said to be the case. 

 Apart from his superior size, the Great Grey Seal can be readily 

 distinguished by his greater length of nose and his hoary grey 

 appearance. When in the water, and looking towards one, the 

 head looks very grey, and appears to me to have a striking resem- 

 blance to that of a sleuth-hound, wanting only the long pendant 

 ears of the latter to make the likeness perfect. The eyes appear 

 deeply sunken in the sockets, this appearance being imparted by 

 the grey colour of the rest of the face. 



8. WALRUS. 

 Trichecus rosmarus (Linn. ) 



Instances of the occurrence of the Walrus in Scotland are given 

 in " Bell's British Quadrupeds," by which records it will be seen 

 that "one was killed in December, 1817, at Caolas Stocnis,* on 

 the east coast of Harris, and was examined by the late Mr. 

 Macgillivray, who gave an account of it in Yol. xvn. of the 

 'Naturalists' Library;'" and "another was killed in April, 1841, 

 on the East Heiskar, near Harris, by Captain Macdonald, R.N., 

 as mentioned by Dr. B. Brown in the ' Annals and Magazine of 

 Natural History, 1871.'" 



Captain Macdonald, of Stein, Skye, told me that a Walrus was 

 distinctly seen two years ago, close to the point of rock near Stein. 

 It lifted its head quite out of water, and the tusks were distinctly 

 seen. It was afterwards fired at, and correctly described by a 

 keeper, off the coast of Sleat in Skye. 



Professor Heddle, with whom I was travelling in June, 1879, 

 stated also that he saw one adult, and a young one, in 1849 or 

 1850, off the coast of the parish of Walls in Orkney. 



* At present (1879) a herring-curing establishment. 

 vol. IV. G 



