OCT. SEALS. 31 



to the bottom. A strong courageous retriever some- 

 times succeeds in towing a dead seal ashore, if he 

 can reach him before he sinks, and has the good 

 luck or judgment to take hold of one of the animal's 

 feet, or " flippers," the only part which the dog can 

 get into his mouth. 



A seal has a very acute scent, and can never be 

 approached from the windward. I conceive that 

 their eyesight is less perfect ; at any rate they are 

 endowed with a certain dangerous curiosity which 

 makes them anxious to approach and reconnoitre 

 any object which they may have seen at a little dis- 

 tance, and do not quite understand. I have seen 

 a seal swim up to within twenty yards of a dog on 

 the shore, for the purpose apparently of examining 

 him, as some unknown animal. Music, too, or any 

 uncommon or loud noise attracts them; and they 

 will follow for a considerable distance the course of 

 a boat in which any loud musical instrument is 

 played, putting up their heads, and listening with 

 great eagerness to the unknown strains. I have 

 even seen them approach boldly to the shore, 

 where a bagpiper was playing, and continue to 

 swim off and on at a hundred yards' distance. 



Notwithstanding their wariness and the diffi- 

 culty of capturing them, seals are gradually dimin- 

 ishing in number, and will soon disappear from our 



