210 Recent Observations in Natural History. [Sess 
two ducks referred to took wing and flew across the water. ? 
They uttered no sound, but had a Boer “Long Tom” been © 
fired it could not have better demonstrated to the seal, “The — 
Philistines be upon thee, Samson!” The tide had receded a 
short distance from where he lay, and his violent struggles to — 
reach the water were most amusing. The ducks had seen 
us, and thought it prudent to shift their quarters; but doubt- 
less there exists a species of wireless telegraphy among those 
denizens of Loch Aylort, with the result already mentioned. 
As he struggled towards the water I could have put several 
bullets into his huge body, but as his head was mostly away 
from me, and his erratic movements made it difficult to hit 
such a small target, I refrained from firing. I fully expected, 
after he found himself safe in the water, that he would put up 
his head and afford a shot, but he evidently knew there was 
real danger about, and never did so. : 
Perhaps you will think I was disappointed. In my 
younger days I would have been; and not only so, but the 
chances are that the seal would have escaped with a Mauser 
bullet through his body, to pine and die amid the caverns of — 
the deep. As it was, I received an object-lesson as to how — 
human ingenuity may be baffled by the watchful instincts of — 
wild animals, and I returned homewards with a light heart. — 
If I had not succeeded in bagging a seal, I at any rate found © 
a splendid appetite for breakfast, and highly appreciated my 
morning sail amid the beauties of nature. j 
A WIDE-AWAKE Fox. 
It was in a hunting district in Berwickshire. I was spend- — 
ing a week-end with a friend. Taking a saunter after break- — 
fast, I witnessed a fox enter a ploughed field and search about 
for a place to rest in for the day. Why he was so late afoot 
is difficult of explanation, unless he had been disturbed else- 
where. He appeared to have some difficulty in getting a 
resting-place congenial to his taste, as he shifted again and 
again, but eventually settled down in a furrow. To “catcha 
weasel asleep” is to defy human ingenuity, and yet a friend © 
in Fealer forest thus once caught a fox and carried it home in 
his game-bag. The idea, therefore, immediately struck me 
