64 THE COMMON SEAL. 



wounded,, even when shot through the head, they 

 will plunge into the sea and escape far out of the 

 reach of their pursuers. When they are secured, 

 after having been mortally wounded, they are al- 

 ways a great while in dying. And the relations that 

 have been given of their existing for a considerable 

 time, deprived even of their skin, are shocking to 

 humanity, and reflect the greatest disgrace on those 

 persons who could inflict so much misery on un- 

 offending animals. 



On the British shores, the females usually pro- 

 duce their young ones, seldom more than two in 

 number, in the deep caverns before described*. 

 These, at first, are covered with a whitish wool, or 

 down. They are suckled, generally, for about four- 

 teen days, when the dams conduct them into the 

 water, to instruct them in swimming, and catching 

 their proper food. Oppian has described, with 

 tolerable accuracy, this instinctive process of the 

 female Seals. . 



When they th' approaching time perceive, 

 They fly the deep, and watery pastures leave: 

 On the dry ground, far from the swelling tide, 

 Bring forth their young, and on the shores abide, 



Tilt 



* The inhabitants of North Uist, one of the western islands of 

 Scotland, informed Mr. Martin, that after the Seals pair, if .another 

 male attempts to seduce the female away, the. injured mate .always 

 resents the affront, by furiously attacking the aggressor. Martins 

 Western Islands, p, 64. 



