The Rev. Mr. Kirk, of Aberfeldy, published a work
descriptive of these supernatural beings. He says they are a kind of
astral spirits between angels and humanity, being like men and women in
appearance, and similar in many of their habits; some of them, however,
are double. They marry and have children, for which they keep nurses;
have deaths and burials amongst them, and they can make themselves
visible or invisible at pleasure. They live in subterranean habitations,
and in an invisible condition attend very constantly on men. They are
very fond of human children and pretty women, both of which they will
steal if not protected by some superior influence. Women in childbed
stand in danger of being taken, but if a piece of cold iron be kept in
the bed in which they lie, the spirits won't come near. Children are in
greater danger of being stolen before baptism than after. They
sometimes, to supply their own needs, spirit away the milk from cows,
but more frequently they transfer the milk to the cows of some person
who stands high in their favour.
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