THE MERMAID. 39 



quisitively at everybody, and listen attentively to every- 

 thing within sight and hearing. When he was satisfied 

 that no one was likely to interfere with him, and that it 

 was unnecessary to be on the alert, he would half-close his 

 beautiful, soft eyes, and cither contentedly pat, stroke, and 

 scratch his little fat stomach with his right paw, or flap 

 both of them across his breast in a most ludicrous manner, 

 exactly as a cabman warms the tips of his fingers on a . 

 wintry day, by swinging his arms vigorously across his 

 chest, and striking his hands against his body on either 

 side. He was very sensitive to musical sounds, as many 

 dogs are, and when a concert took place in the building a 

 high note from one of the vocalists would cause hhn to 

 utter a mournful wail, and to dive with a splash that made 

 the water fly, the audience smile, and the singer frown. 



Captain Scoresby tells us that he had seen the walrus 

 with its head above water, and in such a position that it 

 required little stretch of imagination to mistake it for a 

 human being, and that on one occasion of this kind the 

 surgeon of his ship actually reported to him that he had 

 seen a man with his head above water. 



Peter Gunnersen's merman (p. 24), who " blew up his 

 cheeks and made a kind of roaring noise " before diving, 

 was probably a "bladder-nose" seal. The males of that 

 species have on the head a peculiar pad, which the}' can 

 dilate at pleasure, and their voice is loud and discordant. 



The appearance and behaviour of Stcllcr's " sea-ape," 

 described on p. 25, may, I think, be attributed to one of 

 the eared seals, the so-called sea-lions, or sea-bears. Every 

 one who has seen these animals fed must have noticed the 

 rapidity with which they will di\-e and swim to an\- part of 

 their pond where they expect to receive food, and how, 

 like a dog after a pebble, they will keenly watch their 



