184 



MAMMALS. 



The O.S.A. speaks to the numbers of seals frequenting the 

 coasts of Moray at that time thus : ' Seals, whereof one man has 

 killed 130 in a year, worth four shillings a piece for their oil and 

 skin,' and speaks of them as 'frightening salmon away from a 

 shallow coast ' (op. cit parish of Dyke and Moray. 



Similar experiences are related at the present day, but such, 

 we have good reason to know, are not always raised on the true 

 issue. The damage actually done by the seals themselves is 

 perhaps quite counterbalanced by the damage done by the bag-nets, 

 or their 'leaders.' Seals are still abundant along the shores and 

 at the bars and mouths of rivers, especially the Findhorn, Spey, 

 and Deveron, but they are not so plentiful nor so destructive as 

 the 'forests' of stake- and bag-nets which range for miles along the 

 coast-line. 



The Common Seal does not usually ascend the river Spey, but 

 quite lately two or three ascended about half a mile above Spey- 

 mouth, and one was shot by Mr. Cuthbert, the head gamekeeper, 

 at Gordon Castle (Elgin Coiirant, December 2, 1888). Bod-^sher- 

 men, at least, ought to welcome such a phenomenon, as showing 

 that salmon do get up, at least in the fall.^ If the salmon did not 

 get up the seals would not be there. 



Phoca green landica, Greenland Seal. 



The only evidence of the occurrence of this species among the marine 

 mammalia of the Moray Firth is given in our volume on the Fauna 

 of Sutherland and Caithness. It has occurred at least twice. A 

 young one is preserved in the Dunrobin Museum; another was 

 merely skinned, and the bones thrown away. 



Halichaerus gryphus Great Grey Seal, 



This species seem to be entirely confined to the coast-line, not 

 entering many of the firths. It is still not uncommon about 

 Brora, where a very fine one was shot at the beginning of 1893 by 

 Mr. Houstoun. 



1 Of course long prior to that date the nets had been taken off, and His Grace and 

 his guests had enjoyed the grand salmon-fishing to the full. Let us pray — Spare the 

 poor seals, also the otters, and give them their infinitesimal share of these leavings 

 of the nets ; and grant one month more in spring for spring fish to run. 



