I io WILD LIFE OF SCOTLAND 



They remain with us all the year round, and seem 

 to breed freely. In March or April, scenes which 

 are associated with Greenland are brought near 

 home ; and the banks, exposed at low water, bear 

 the same living freight as the Arctic ice-floes. 

 Adults, with their young are dotted over the sand. 

 In his daily walk a professor was surprised to see a 

 strange creature, which turned out to be a seal, 

 emerge from the water, and give birth to young. 

 With a blow of his stick he secured it for the 

 museum. 1 



There are few uncannie creatures in the North 

 Sea, probably because the breezes are sufficiently 

 strong, and fresh to blow away all delusions. 

 However, stories, of a more or less veracious 

 character, concerning the appearance of the mer- 

 maid, have been circulated, and attained a certain 

 amount of credence, on the testimony of those, who 

 had, at least, the merit of believing in the accuracy 

 of their own observations. One of these composite 

 creatures seems to haunt the northern islands, 

 where it is so frequently and plainly seen, that it 

 is possible to describe it with a considerable measure 

 of detail. The upper, presumably the female half, 



1 The grey seal Halicliaerus grypus is not uncommon, especially 

 on the west coast. .--^- 



