74 AUTUMNS IN ARGYLESHIRE 



ness appeared to suppose. My personal experi- 

 ence dates back for more than a generation, and 

 although many autumns have been spent in a 

 locality peculiarly favourable for the purpose, the 

 number of seals I have bagged could be counted 

 on the fingers of my two hands. True it is that, 

 as I have grown older, the sporting mania has 

 somewhat yielded to the more humane instincts 

 of the observer and naturalist, and that for some 

 years I have enjoyed watching seals when on my 

 various dredging, yachting, and fishing expedi- 

 tions without any desire to take their lives. Yet, 

 although I protest against the useless slaughter 

 of any living creature, I cannot hold the killing 

 of seals as unjustifiable, as they are certainly 

 most mischievous and destructive at the mouths 

 of the salmon rivers. Their bodies are covered 

 with a considerable quantity of valuable blubber, 

 and although their pelts are not adapted for the 

 manufacture of mantles and waistcoats, they make 

 excellent gun- covers, or nice mats mounted as 

 sporting trophies. I leave it to others, however, 

 to thin their dwindling numbers, and I should 

 not publish my experiences if I thought I was 

 assisting their destruction by revealing their hid- 

 ing-places. For various reasons, they shift their 

 ground from time to time, and if any should now 

 visit Loch Craignish in the hope of repeating my 

 successes, they would probably meet with disap- 

 pointment. 



