SAND DUNES AND SALT MARSHES 



that these various arts are inborn instincts, 

 and would appear in due course of develop- 

 ment in the entire absence of maternal super- 

 vision is also probable. 



Many carnivorous animals, to which class 

 the seals belong, are expert fish-catchers, as, 

 for example, mink and especially otters. I 

 have seen Eskimo dogs that were kept on 

 rocky islands on the eastern Labrador coast 

 plunge through the icy waters for fish, and 

 spend much of their time in this pursuit. It 

 is interesting to picture the gradual change 

 of habit from a land carnivore to a sea carni- 

 vore, with a corresponding change of struc- 

 ture brought about by natural selection. The 

 Acadians of southern Labrador call the seal 

 le loup marin, and they are evidently more 

 nearly correct than the modern Frenchman, 

 w^ho speaks of the seal as le veau marin. 



My baby seal— the one whose actions I have 

 just described— had already shed its white or 

 milk coat and was clad in dark pelage. In the 

 London Zoological Gardens, according to 

 Flower and Lydekker, a young of this species 

 '' shed its infantile woolly coat and was swim- 

 ming and diving about in its pond within 

 three hours after its birth." 



178 



