346 THE BIRD WATCHER 
would pause, with @*deprecating look, but without 
giving way one inch, and, very shortly, press forward 
again, the other snarling and scratching as before, but 
gradually retiring, till at last he gave “passage free.” 
The fifth seal lay at right the end of the rock, where 
it narrowed very much, so that there was no retreat 
for it, as the large one came up—for that was just the 
place he wanted—except into the sea. And there, 
after many snarls, and growls, and faint shows of 
resistance, as, also, most melancholy looks, it had to 
go, the intruder, all the while, continuing to use that 
deprecating, almost apologetic, manner which he had 
done throughout. It was disagreeable to him to be 
at feud with any of his kind, but, still more so, not 
to have the place he liked; that was the idea quite 
transparently expressed. There was that in his 
manner which seemed to say, “With the sole 
exception of myself, madam, there is no one for 
whose rights I have a more profound respect than 
for yours”; for, this ousted seal being a small one, 
I put her down as a lady. Perhaps, indeed, that is 
why he was so forbearing. 
Several seals are now playing a good deal in the 
water, flouncing and bouncing about, making little 
white cauldrons, in the midst of which their round, 
black heads, bobbing up and down, look like pipkins, 
or crabs a-roasting. Two are sporting together in 
this way, which is a very pretty sight to see. They 
spin and shoot about, slap each other with their fins 
or tails, and, every now and again, one hears a curious 
