io6 THE HOME OF A NATURALIST. 



the power of diving. In these respects the two species 

 differ markedly. Nor is the haff-fish so often seen 

 basking on the rocks ; and when he does take a rest 

 on shore, he does not appear to mind what is the state 

 of the tide or wind. But probably his usual and 

 favourite resting and sleeping place is his hellyer, 

 where he will feel secure from intrusion. His 

 principal food is cod, ling, saithe, halibut, and conger- 

 eel. Both species are exceedingly voracious, but can 

 endure a very long abstinence. A tame one we once 

 had never tasted food for three weeks before he died. 

 They always feed in the water, never on land, tearing 

 large pieces off their fishy prey, and swallowing it 

 without almost any mastication. They do not migrate, 

 but remain in the vicinity of their breeding-places 

 throughout the year. Formerly, seals' flesh used to 

 be eaten by the natives of Shetland, but not now. I 

 have eaten a part of a seal's heart, and found it by no 

 means unpalatable. It was offered to me as a special 

 delicacy by an old gentleman who could not have 

 been induced to taste a crab or lobster. By the 

 by, why is it Shetlanders won't eat these delicious 

 Crustacea ? I once put the question to an old fisher- 

 man, and his reply was : " They're unkirsn — they eat 

 the human " — meaning the dead bodies of sailors and 

 fishermen. (Unkirsn is the vernacular for unclean, in 

 the sense of being unfit for food.) 



I believe seals' flesh is still sometimes salted and 

 eaten by the Faroese and Icelanders ; but if one may 

 judge from the very strong coal-tarry smell of the car- 



