IN THE SHETLANDS 345 
out no very special development of the nose—longer 
and larger than that of the common seal, but I mean 
as a nose—so that if the name bottle-nosed is really 
applied to the creature—and one Shetlander certainly 
used it—it must be, I think, for the reason I have 
conjectured, the very round apertures of the nostrils, 
which look as if they would just hold a cork. I could 
never have imagined that an animal having fur—and 
pretty thick fur, I think—all over it, would look so 
absolutely naked in the water as this seal does. 
I noted down that it was, without the smallest 
suspicion of a doubt having occurred to me, and 
I remained in entire ignorance of the real fact 
till I saw it with the fur partly dry. Once, indeed, 
I noticed something—the least hint of a roughness 
on the shoulders—as it bent its neck; but I never 
really doubted, so naked did it everywhere appear. 
There is really some interest in letting one’s errors 
stand ; besides that it does not seem quite fair to 
suppress them. 
Seals have strong preferences, not only for particular 
rocks, but for particular places upon them. Ai large 
one of the common kind but just now came out on 
a rock where five others were lying, and advanced 
through them, in a straight line, displacing four of 
them. One only of these seemed inclined to dispute 
his passage, and here there was some scratching, with 
a good deal of hoarse snarling, almost barking—an 
ugly guttural note. The large seal seemed not to 
A 
wish to bring things “4 de facheuses extrémités.” He 
