304 THE BIRD WATCHER 
can say nothing, excegtt that I have not yet seen such 
an attack made—which is not much. 
In the last two or three days I have pretty well 
demonstrated that seals, when they lie on the rocks, in 
company, do not post sentinels. In descending the 
cliffs, | have several times alarmed one or more out of 
the ten or a dozen that have lain on the great, slant- 
ing slab where they rendezvous; but their retreat, 
more or less precipitate, has not induced the others 
to a like course. Some have looked about a little, but 
remained where they were, whilst the greater number 
have lain in fancied—and this time real—security. 
It may be said that the seals which took to the water 
need not have been the sentinels, but this is an 
argumentum ad absurdum, since a sentinel that neither 
saw danger itself, nor gave the signal when it saw 
others in a state of alarm, would be no good. 
For me, therefore, seals do not post sentries, at 
least not in these seas, but it does not necessarily follow 
that they may not do so in others where they are 
more persecuted by man, and preyed on by polar- 
bears. Whether this has been asserted, or not, I do 
not know, but I dare swear it has been, for sportsmen, 
besides that they draw very hasty inferences, like to 
get full credit for their miserable triumphs over brute 
intelligence. Take this very matter of sentinel-post- 
ing. It has been lightly made, and far too lightly 
credited. If you have a herd, or flock, of animals— 
say some geese browsing—some must stand on the 
outside, which is where we would post sentinels. 
