Colquhoun, John (1880) The Moor and the Loch, Vol. 2, W. Blackwood, pp. 166-167

As a set off against the decrease of our four-footed fauna, news has been sent me of a new Scotch animal found in Banffshire, called the earth-hound or earth-hund. Till within the last two years I never heard of such a creature. It was described to me as larger than a rat, having a greyhound's head and a short tail. My imformant [sic] stated that one could be easily secured at the autumn ploughing season, which would be forwarded to me at once. Four autumn and winter ploughings are come and gone, and yet no earth-hound has arrived! I begged to be told of any museum where it was preserved, or to be referred to any who possessed a stuffed specimen of the animal, but in vain. What was Tom Edward [a Banffshire naturalist] about if there were such a creature in his own country, and no notice taken of it in his 'Life'? This is inserted that any naturalist, who is able, may unearth this mysterious hound.

When a turnip is found to have been penetrated through a small hole three-quarters of an inch or an inch in diameter, and the inside to have been completely scooped out until sometimes nothing is left but the bare rind, the earth-hound is credited with the damage. This is only too common a phenomenon in any field of turnips. Query.–Is the field-mouse the living embodiment of this spectral earth-hound?

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