50 HAPPY HUNTING-GROUNDS 



water not exceeding an inch or two in depth. Further 

 cross-examination proved that my informant had 

 misunderstood me. Gaelic was his native language, 

 although like most West Highlanders the English 

 which he spoke was remarkably pure and accurately 

 pronounced. When I made it clear to him that the 

 object of my inquiries was the sea-pie, he at once 

 agreed that their mutilation could not be laid to the 

 account of the dog-fish, but he stuck to his guns about 

 these latter being often known to attack waterfowl. 

 The whole episode taught me a lesson as to the neces- 

 sity of carefully sifting second-hand information, even 

 when it comes from trustworthy sources. I was 

 certainly in this instance within an ace of believing 

 and recording a misleading and inaccurate anecdote. 

 I heard a curious instance of a fish attacking a 

 bird from my old boatman and companion on many 

 a dredging expedition on Loch Craignish, Duncan 

 Macallum. He told me that he had found a full- 

 grown teal in the stomach of a dead angler fish, and 

 I never knew him to exaggerate or invent. Many a 

 strange object, from the sea-pen (Pennatula phosphor ea) 

 to the rare and curious-looking angular crab (Gono- 

 plax angulata), which Bell in his British Stalk-eyed 

 Crustacea had not heard of having been taken in 

 Scotland, was brought by him for my inspection. This 

 latter is a strange-looking creature, with its unrounded 

 carapace, its long claws, and eyes mounted on long 

 movable peduncles, shifting back when not in use 

 into a sort of groove at the side of the carapace. If 

 trawlers and lobster fishers were in closer touch with 

 the naturalist, and could be prevailed upon to bring 

 them back the " rubbish " they daily throw away a"s 



