IN THE SHETLANDS 331 
was not always successful ; that is to say, he did not 
always hit the exact moment. Having tried and 
failed several times, he would fall into a sort of rage or 
pet. He bit at the rock, cuffed the water, as he fell 
back into it, with one of his flippers, and then, as 
though this were an insufficient outlet for his irritated 
feelings, flung about with tremendous drio, revolving, 
contorting, curving his body to a bent bow, and then 
violently unbending it, diving and flashing up again, 
almost together, making a foam of the water, lashing 
it in all directions. Then, for a little, he would dis- 
appear, but always he would return and renew his 
efforts, always to be again frustrated in them. This 
lasted for half an hour, or longer. Once, after the 
first ten minutes or so, 1 thought he had given it up, 
for he swam to the great central slab, and began to 
make his way up towards the other seals. But when 
he had gone but a little way, he turned, and, flapping 
down again, swam back to that coveted rock, where it 
all commenced over again. This extremely human 
touch interested me greatly—as who would it not have 
done? How strong the desire must have been, and 
what an individual liking this seal must have taken for 
that particular rock, to make him leave a comfortable 
place amongst his companions, and go back to try, 
again, where he had so often failed before! How 
strong, too, must have been his memory of what he 
liked so much !—for it does not seem likely that any 
seal would so have tried to achieve a special practicable 
spot on an otherwise impracticable rock, unless he had 
