322 THE BIRD WATCHER 
himself into mockgfetters, his delight was to break 
out of them, which he did with consummate ease, and 
the grace of a merman. He did not keep hold of 
the seaweed all the while, but grasped it now and 
again, often opening his mouth and making pretence 
to bite. He acted like a very playful dog, but had 
a distinct idea of thus entangling himself with the 
seaweed. No one could have mistaken this. The 
design was perfectly evident. Two other seals, on 
a rock, played together most humorously, or rather 
one kept playing with the other, teasing him, but in 
a kindly way, by which it differed from most teasing. 
He would scratch him softly on the chest with one of 
his fore-flippers, and when this was parried, with 
a protest in look and action, he got farther down and 
scratched, or, as I think one may say, tickled him on 
the belly, beyond the reach of his guard. This 
caused the poor animal to flounce about in a very 
absurd way, and, at last, to half rise, and put on that 
funny, expostulatory look, half appealing, half resent- 
ing, and wholly humorous, which I have noted before. 
~ Most playful and humorously playful animals these are. 
Could we see something of the inner life—the 
domestics—of many animals, the record of it might 
be very interesting. This is what is really wanted. 
But who has done so? Who has cared to do so? 
Instead, we have a few bald, jejune facts—habitat, 
diet, time of bringing forth young, period of gesta- 
tion (on which latter point a good deal of prurient 
curiosity is manifested), etc. But the heart of a wild 
