170 THE BIRDS OF IONA AND MULL. 



about a month old. It has not got the black spot upon the back. 

 Its habits differ very much from those of the Common Seal. She 

 has her young in November, and it is found three or four yards 

 above high water mark, sometimes quite among the fern and 

 heather. They do not take to the water till six weeks old, when 

 they weigh seventy or eighty pounds. If disturbed, however, the 

 mother will make oft" with her calf, which she does by taking it 

 up upon her back and so plunging into the sea. Even after a 

 long dive, on rising to the surface, the young one remains securely 

 on its mother's back. She comes to suckle it regularly at high 

 water, but her instinct teaches her to choose such spots that it is 

 impossible either to approach or lay in wait for them without 

 being seen or scented. The colour of the old Seal is a little 

 darker than the one I send you, and the black spot extends over 

 the back of the neck and shoulders. I cannot say at what age 

 the young ones get the black spot. I perceive no difference in 

 their shape from the Common Seal, though the old ones are 

 much larger, being seven or eight feet long and fully thicker than 

 a herring barrel in the body." 1 



This is my friend's history of the Ta-beist. He very thoroughly 

 proves it a very different animal from the Ron, though leaving it 

 doubtful as to which of the Great Seals he describes, and my 

 conclusion is that he confounds more than one species under the 

 name of Ta-beist, the Grey Seal being probably the commonest of 

 them. The season of breeding seems to be one criterion, also the 

 place of breeding. The Common Seal being apparently the only one 



1 Undoubtedly intended to describe the Great Grey Seal, or Halickcerus 

 gryphus. — Ed. 



