50 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXIII. 



pursuit of seals, that one day, having found a very 

 young one left by its mother on the rocks, near 

 Lossiemouth, he put it into a deep round hole full 

 of water left by the receding tide. For two hours, 

 during which he waited, expecting to see the old 

 female come in with the flow of the tide, the little 

 animal remained, as he expressed it, "like a stone" 

 at the bottom of the water, without moving or 

 coming to the surface to breathe. He then took it 

 out, and found it as well and lively as ever ; and 

 on turning it loose into the sea it at once began 

 swimming about with some other young ones. 



In a creek of the sea, where I sometimes watch 

 for seals, I have seen two or three come in with the 

 flow of the tide. After playing about for a short 

 time they have disappeared under the water, and 

 have not shown themselves again till the receding 

 tide has warned them that it was time to leave the 

 place. From the situation they were in, and the 

 calmness of the water, the seals could scarcely have 

 put up their noses to breathe without my having 

 seen them. Apparently they sunk to the bottom 

 in a certain part of the bay, in order to be at rest, 

 and remained there till the ebb was pretty far 

 advanced, when they reappeared in the same place 

 where I had lost sight of them, perhaps, some hours 

 before. It was a curious and amusing sight to see 



