Boobrie is a gigantic water-bird, which inhabits the lochs of Argyllshire (historic county and registration county of western Scotland). It has a loud harsh voice and webbed feet and gobbles up sheep and cattle. J.F.Campbell thinks the Boobrie is one form taken by the water-horse, but he gives no reason for thinking so. He gives an eyewitness account in "Popular Tales of the West Highlands" (644: Vol.IV, p.308) from a man who claimed to have seen it. He waded up to his shoulders in the waters of a loch in February to get a shot at it, but had only come within eighty-five yards when the creature dived. It looked like a gigantic Northern Diver, but was black all over. Its neck was two feet eleven inches long, its bill about seventeen inches long and hooked like an eagle's. Its legs were very short, the feet webbed and armed with tremendous claws, its footprints were found in the mud to the north of the loch, its voice was like the roar of an angry bull, and it lived on calves, sheep, lambs and others (1290: p.34):

But the water-horse assumes many shapes; he often appears as a man, and sometimes as a large bird. In this last form he was "seen" by a certain man, who described him. The narrator waded up to his shoulders one cold day in February, in a certain muir loch, to get a shot at him; but when he got within "eighty-five yards" of him, the animal dived, and the sportsman, after waiting for "three quarters of an hour", returned to shore. There he remained for more than "five hours and a half", but the creature never rose. In form and colour he was very like the Great Northern Diver, with the exception of the white on his neck and breast; the wings were of the same proportion, the neck was "two feet eleven inches long", and "twenty-three in circumference"; bill about "seventeen inches long", and hooked like an eagle's at the end; legs very short, black, and powerful; feet webbed till within five inches of the toes, with tremendous claws. Footprints, as measured in the mud at the north end of the lake, cover a space equal to that contained within the span of a pair of large antlers; voice like the roar of an angry bull; lives on calves, sheep, lambs, and otters, etc. If that "eyewitness" had only taken his long bow with him instead of his gun, I have no doubt he might have secured a specimen of the "Boobrie". Nevertheless, I have heard of the Boobrie from several people who were beyond the reach of this "eye-witness"; so he has a real existence in the popular mind.

"Popular Tales of the West Highlands" by J.F.Campbell (644: Vol.IV, p.307-308)

John Francis Campbell has speculated that descriptions of the boobrie may be based on sightings of the great auk. The bellowing sound made by the boobrie, more like a bull than a bird, may have its origin in the strange call of the common bittern, which was a rare visitor to Scotland.