Habits of the Seal. 79 



in which it was injudiciously too constantly kept, supporting 

 itself erect against the bars of its inclosure, and wheresoever 

 he moved, keeping its large, dark eyes stedfastly fixed upon 

 him. When desired to make obeisance to visitors, it quickly 

 threw itself on one side, and struck the opposite one several 

 times in quick succession with its fore foot, producing a loud 

 noise. The young seal again, which was kept on board the Alex- 

 ander, in one of the Northern expeditions, became so much 

 attached to its new mode of life, that after being thrown into 

 the sea, and it had become tired of swimming at liberty, it 

 regularly returned to the side of the boat, to be retaken on 

 board. Such examples might be greatly multiplied, but these 

 are amply sufficient for our purpose ; and I cannot help stating, 

 that aware of this disposition to become familiar, this partici- 

 pation in the good qualities of the dog, it is astonishing that 

 mankind have not chosen this intelligent and finely-organised 

 quadruped, for aquatic services scarcely less important than 

 some of those in which the dog is employed, on the surface of 

 the land. 



The seal is among the few polygamous quadrupeds ; and like 

 the rest, the males, during the period of intercourse, enter into 

 violent conflicts. Two young ones are generally produced at a 

 time in the autumn. They are brought forth in caverns, ex- 

 tending from the sea above high-water mark, and here they 

 remain suckling during several weeks, before they venture into 

 the water. When they become fatigued by swimming, we are 

 assured that the parent supports them on her back. 



The voice of the seal consists of a kind of bleating, whence 

 doubtless has the common seal obtained the name of the sea- 

 calf, the Phoca vitulina : the voice is, however, liable to great 

 variation, especially during changes in the state of the atmos- 

 phere, when they become extremely clamorous. Spending 

 their nights on the surfaces of rocks, or upon the shore, it is 

 during their very sound repose in these situations that they 

 are approached and destroyed with sticks ; and when thus 

 alarmed, they tumble their young ones before them into the 

 sea, and are themselves often sacrificed in the very act. But 

 the means by which they are captured in by far the greatest 

 numbers, is by cutting oiff their retreat to the sea at low water, 

 when, in apparent security, they lie in large herds within 



