178 • A day's tumble by the sea-siioue. 



and fascinating form of one of the gentler sex— some high-born and noble 

 dame of the olden time, with lily bosom dyed with gore, and clad in a pale 

 winding-sheet? Oh no! but by bounding off in the more welcome shape of a 

 Mountain Hare^ (Lepua variabilis,) aye, and a most beautiful specimen it was 

 too, so much so that at least one longing heart yearned after it. But my 

 unfortunate friend, what of him? Gaze at him rising from his flinty couch, 

 somewhat stunned, his visage wan as death, and besmeared with blood. In 

 his vain endeavour to capture poor Mauldns he had lost hia footing, and having 

 stumbled, the most prominent of his facial organs had come rather suddenly 

 and with some force against the ground, which had caused the crimson spring 

 to flow rather profusely; beyond this, however, and a slight scar on the forehead, 

 no material or serious damage was received, a fact which I was most glad 

 to learn. 



So much for the live objects which came In our way; and now for the dead: — 

 Be not surprised at this, for be it known and remembered too, that the writer 

 has a natural and ardent love for all the works of creation, dead or alive; not 

 an acquired thirst, but an internal desire implanted in him whilst yet in embyro 

 by the ever-gracious hand of the Almighty — the God of Nature — and thereby 

 born with and in him. From this circumstance it will not be so much to be 

 wondered at when it is told that it is a constant rule with hira, when an 

 opportunity offers, that be never passes a dead anijnal without first ascertaining, 

 or endeavouring to ascertain, what it really is. Well, then, from Whitehills 

 to near the church-yard of Portsoy, which lies close to the beach, a distance 

 of about six miles, we counted the remains of no fewer than forty- seven animals, 

 all cast on shore dead, besides numerous fragments of others, doubtless the 

 most, if not all, of which had fallen victims to the late severe and long- 

 protracted storm. Of these forty-two were birds, comprising seventeen Razor-bills, 

 {Aha torda;) six Guillemots, (JJria troile;) two Little Auks, {Mergulus alle;) 

 three Herring Gulls, (Lariis argerdatus ;) four Common Gulls, {L. canus;) one 

 K'ttiwake, {L. rissa;) two Long-tailed Ducks, {Harelda ylacialis;) two Brent 

 Geese,*" [Anser brenta;) one Common Wild Duck, (Anas Boschas;) two Golden 

 Plovers, [Squatarola pluvialis;) one Red-throated Diver, (Goli/mbus septentri- 

 onalis;) and an immature specimen of the Great Northern Diver, {C. glaclalis.) 

 The others consisted of two Common Cod-fishes, {Morrhua vulgaris;) one Salmon, 

 (Salmo salar;) one Lump-sucker, {C^jdopterus Imnpus;) and one Conger Eel, 

 (C. vulgaris,) of an enormous size, being nearly ten feet long, and of pro- 

 portionate thickness. The most of these latter animals were very much mutilated, 

 no doubt by the Crows, which, as I have already hinted, were pretty numerous 

 in this quarter. 



As for Conchological specimens of the common kinds, they were in rich 



profusion in many parts, and Star-fishes not a few, but all of one sort, viz: 



Astenas rubens. Searching amongst the various heaps of tangle washed on 



shore, we found several specimens of our native Polypes, or rather the corally 



* Liu-gc numbers of this Goose have visited our coast this season. 



