OF WILD ANIMALS 213 



veracious record of a performance of Treat's five sea-lions and 

 two harbor seals, that I witnessed October 15, 1910, tell the 

 whole story, in order that the reader may judge for himself: 



1. Each sea-lion balanced upright on its nose a wooden 

 staff 3 feet long, with a round knob on its upper end. 



2. Each sea-lion caught in its mouth a three-foot stick 

 with a ball on each end, tossed it up, whirled it in the air, 

 and caught it again. This was repeated, without a miss. 



3. Each sea-lion balanced on the tip of its nose, first 

 a ball like a baseball, then a large ball two feet in diameter. 



4. Each sea-lion climbed a double ladder of eight steps, 

 and went down on the other side, balancing a large ball on 

 the end of its nose, without a miss. 



5. The trainer handed a ball to the sea-lion nearest 

 him, who balanced it on his nose, walked with it to his box 

 and climbed up. 



6. Then another sea-lion walked over to him, and 

 waited expectantly until sea-lion No. i tossed the ball to 

 No. 2, who caught it on his nose, walked over to his box, 

 climbed up, and presently tossed it to No. 3. 



7. A silk hat was balanced on its rim. 



8. A seal carrying a balanced ball scrambled upon a 

 cylindrical basket and rolled it across the arena, after which 

 other seals repeated the performance. 



9. In the last act a flaming torch was balanced, tossed 

 about, caught and whirled, and finally returned to the 

 trainer, still blazing. 



Trained Horses. By carefully selecting the brightest 

 and most intelligent horses that can be found, it is possible for 

 a trainer to bring together and educate a group that will go 

 through a fine performance in public. However, some exhibi- 

 tions of trained horses are halting, ragged and poor. I have 

 seen only one that stands out in my records as superlatively 

 fine, for horses. That was known to the public when I saw 



