THE HARBOR SEAL 



by the presence of man it almost invariably 

 seeks safety in flight below the water. This 

 not only ensures its safety from observation 

 and chance of being shot, but gives it oppor- 

 tunity for greater speed, by the elimination 

 of surface friction and wake, and by its as- 

 sumption of a shape particularly adapted for 

 cleaving the water. Now this adult seal dove 

 but little, and that for brief intervals, as if 

 she recognized the inability of her offspring 

 to follow her. The baby seal did not dive at 

 all; it evidently had not reached the diving 

 stage in its development, and it was indeed 

 but an indifferent swimmer, and splashed in 

 a very amateurish manner. All this points 

 to the very evident fact that the seals' ances- 

 try goes back to land animals, and, just as the 

 child of civilization bears the ear-marks of the 

 savage, so the baby seal is more at home on 

 the land than in the water. The baby seal 

 has, however, the advantage of the bab}^ man, 

 for its progress to the arts of the adult is 

 rapid, and this progress is not dependent on 

 the careful instruction of its parents. That 

 the mother does to a certain extent guide its 

 ways, and instruct it in the art of swimming 

 and diving and catching fish is probable, but 



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