DECOYING THE MOTHER SEAL. 



139 



way from it, he throws himself down and hitches himself along 

 towards his game. The Seal, meanwhile, is taking its naps of 

 about ten seconds each, invariably raising its head and survey- 

 ing the entire horizon before composing itself again to brief 

 slumber. 



" As soon as it raises its head, the Bear ' talks,' keeping per- 

 fectly still. The Seal, if it sees anything, sees but the head, 

 which it takes for that of another Seal. It sleeps again. Again 

 the Bear hitches himself along, and once more the Seal looks 

 around, only to be ' talked ' to and again deceived. Thus the 

 pursuit goes on until the Seal is caught, or till it makes its 

 escape, which it seldom does." 



It is remarkable that while this " talk " is going on, the Seal 

 appears to be charmed, raises and shakes its flippers about, rolls 

 over on its side and back, as if delighted, and then lies down to 

 sleep. 



Now, the Esquimaux hunters imitate, as nearly as they can, 

 the proceedings of the Bear, but are not so successful. Captain 

 Hall mentions several instances where the native hunter failed 

 even to come within gunshot without alarming the Seal, which 

 instantly plunged into its hole and was lost. 



THE same author mentions another instance where the 

 Esquimaux hunter has copied the Bear. 



When an Esquimaux hunter catches a young Seal, he takes 



POLAR BEAR CATCHIMO SEAL, ETC. 



care not to kill it at once, as he wishes to use it as a decoy. He 

 ties a long line round one of the hind flippers, and then drops 

 the little Seal into the hole through the ice by which it enters 

 and leaves the water. The struggles of the young are nearly sure 



