THE HARBOR SEAL 



bar, the gulls on another, while the restless 

 terns all took flight. Soon the waves began 

 breaking among the seals, and a few of the 

 outlying ones were floated away and their 

 black heads studded the water, while the air 

 was filled with departing gulls. A little later 

 nothing but a mass of swaying flipper-tails 

 and bobbing heads could be seen, and as the 

 waves receded only eleven seals were left 

 securely on the sand, while in the gull group 

 one old solemn black-backed and fifteen or 

 twenty herring gulls survived the onslaught. 

 Again the waves rolled in from all sides, and 

 continued their battering without pause ; only 

 one seal and one great black-backed gull re- 

 mained; soon they too were gone and nothing 

 but angry breakers were to be seen rushing 

 in all directions, as if anxious to find out and 

 pursue an}^ creature that dared to oppose 

 them. 



It is easy to appreciate the motives of seals 

 that are reclining in delightful ease on a bar 

 under the rays of the summer's sun, but it 

 is rather surprising to find them assuming 

 similar positions in a heavy rain-storm, and 

 still more perplexing when one discovers 

 these same animals on the bar on a December 



173 



