CHAPTER IV 



SEALS GREAT AND SMALL 



I HAVE often thought what an ideal place Colonsay 

 would be for a sanctuary in which to permit all the 

 fauna of the Hebrides to grow up in a state of nature 

 unmolested. The absence of such carnivora as the 

 fox, the marten, the polecat, the stoat, and weasel, 

 make the little island especially suitable for such a 

 purpose. I was told, but had no opportunity of verify- 

 ing the statement, that in consequence of this absence 

 of stoats and weasels, all attempts at ferreting had 

 proved failures, as rabbits declined to bolt at the sight 

 of a ferret, being ignorant of the dangerous character 

 of their strange visitor. No deer of any kind now 

 exist within the boundaries of the island, but the 

 antlers of the red stag are frequently found in the caves 

 and old middens, which looks as if they were at one 

 time indigenous. Both the black and the Norway rat 

 are fairly common, the latter being unpleasantly and 

 mischievously numerous. But the characteristic native 

 mammal is the seal. As I have mentioned in a previous 

 chapter, these amphibians were the special favourites 

 of the Laird. Each of the leases under which I rented 

 the privilege of shooting over the island, contained 

 an express stipulation that not more than six of the 

 common seal (Phoca vitulina) were to be shot, and any 

 interference with the rarer grey seal (Gryphus) was 



63 



