SEALS. 153 



would lie lazily along, basking in the warm sun, like so many 

 large swine, and nearly of the same colour. 



" The fishermen on the island used to assert that, like many 

 other animals both of the land and the water, they never repose 

 without stationing a sentinel on the watch. I cannot posi- 

 tively confirm this, but I have often observed that during the 

 general slumber one of the number, but not always the same 

 individual, would raise its head for a second or two, turning it 

 half round, and again stretch itself in repose. Ever and anon, 

 too, we would hear from some one of the group a melancholy 

 moan coming slowly over the surface of the deep, wild and 

 savage in the sound." 



The proportionately much larger capacity of the brain in the 

 Common, as compared with that of the Grey Seal, would naturally 

 suggest that the former is a far more intelligent creature than 

 the latter ; and actual experience proves this to be the case. 

 Thus, whereas the Grey Seal is a dull and phlegmatic animal, 

 exhibiting no signs of pleasure in musical sounds and display- 

 ing no attachment to its owner when in captivity, the present 

 species can be readily tamed, and exhibits not only a high 

 degree of affection for its master, but likewise great general 

 intelligence. A well-known story is related in Maxwell's " Vv^ild 

 Sports of the West " of a Seal which had been captured young 

 in Clew Bay, on the west coast of Ireland, and tamed by the 

 servants of a neighbouring landowner. There it remained for 

 upwards of four years, and so great was its attachment to the 

 house, that after being carried out to sea three times and there 

 left, it returned home on each occasion. With unspeakable 

 cruelty, on the last of these occasions, the poor animal had 

 been deprived of its sight, but even then it returned after an 

 interval of eight days. Another individual, which was tamed 

 by an Irish gentleman in 18 19, appeared, according to Thomp- 

 son's account, " to possess all the sagacity of the dog, and lived 



