8 Mr. J. MacGillivray's Notes on the 



but in a single instance two cubs were observed following one 

 female. During a storm I have seen them throwing them- 

 selves forwards, half out of the water, which movement they 

 repeated several times in succession. Two individuals of 

 Phoca groenlandica, Harp or Greenland Seal, were observed by 

 Mr. D. MacLellan and myself, on a small rock in the Atlantic, 

 off the west coast of South Uist, in the month of July. They 

 were seen through a telescope, at a distance of not more than 

 300 yards, as we were watching the strange movements of a 

 large schooner which sunk in deep water a few minutes after- 

 wards. Being then in the habit of daily seeing numbers of 

 seals, I could scarcely have mistaken so marked a species for 

 either of the two others. Halicharus griseus, Nilss., Great 

 Seal, as determined by me from the examination of several in- 

 dividuals, also of two crania, and numerous skins, is equally 

 plentiful with the Common Seal, from which it differs greatly 

 in habits. It seldom enters the shallow sounds like the Ph. 

 vitulina, with which it never associates, but frequents the open 

 sea, upon the western or Atlantic coasts of the islands, where 

 alone I have observed it. It breeds in November, leaving its 

 young one upon the rock, and suckling it at each tide. The 

 most noted places of resort of this species are the rocky islands 

 of Haskir, twelve miles off the west coast of North Uist, and 

 Gaskir, at a similar distance from the Harris coast. In the 

 beginning of November a large boat filled with men leaves 

 North Uist under night, and generally arrives at Haskir soon 

 after daybreak. The men land upon the island armed with 

 long clubs and separate into two bodies, one of which attack 

 the seals upon the shelving rocks upon which they are found 

 lying with their cubs, while the other cut off their retreat to 

 the water. A short but fierce struggle then takes place ; a 

 few of the animals escape, the rest are killed by repeated blows 

 about the root of the nose, their only vulnerable spot, and the 

 rock is soon covered with the dying and the dead. About 

 seventy are thus annually procured, but the number varies 

 considerably, as many as 120 having sometimes been obtained. 

 Many of them are of lai'ge size, one which I measured at Vall- 

 ay being 7^ feet in length, exclusive of the head, and indivi- 

 duals of much larger size arc not unfrequently met with. 



Mus Musculus, Common Mouse, is of common occurrence : 

 M. decumanus, the Brown Rat, was observed to feed on shell- 

 fish and Crustacea in the uninhabited islands of the sound of 

 Harris, the sea-banks of many of which I have seen perforated 

 in all directions with their burrows. 



Lepus Cuniculus, the Rabbit, has been introduced into 

 South Uist and Barray, where it has multiplied prodigiously. 



