COMMON SEAL. 243 



mainland. Here they usually remain, if undisturbed, 

 for about six hours. " They lie together so close as to 

 appear to be almost in contact, to the number sometimes 

 of one, two, or three dozen. With their heads constantly 

 turned to the sea, and seldom more than a yard or two 

 from it, they seem to enjoy a pleasing repose on terra 

 Jirma, their appetites appeased by previous fishing, and 

 a feeling of comfort or satisfaction produced upon their 

 moistened surface by the genial rays of an invigorating 

 sun. But even in this their hour of rest, their customary 

 caution never leaves them, for one of their number is 

 placed a little higher up the rock than the others, and he 

 seems constantly awake, and ever and anon raises his 

 grim features, scenting the windward air." When undis- 

 turbed they frequently utter a grunting sound, like pigs. 

 We have already alluded, in our general account of 

 the family, to the peculiar way in which the true Seals 

 move on land. This is very well marked in the present 

 species, and must be familiar to most visitors to the 

 gardens of the Zoological Society, where its quaint and 

 graceful movements in the water may also be well 

 observed, and especially its habits of swimming on its 

 back and of twisting itself in cork-screw fashion in the 

 water. Ludicrous as is its gait on land, a Seal can get 

 along on the level at a good round pace, and Mr. Ball 

 mentions that one which escaped from captivity during 

 the night had passed over rough ground to a distance of 

 at least a mile and a half before it was recaptured. In 

 the water a Seal is perfectly at home, and Dr. Brown 

 believes that it can even sleep when afloat : " I have 

 frequently been assured," he says, " by old Seal-hunters 

 that Seals can sleep on their back, while floating in the 

 sea, and this statement corroborates that of Fabricius 

 and other naturalists. In 1861, in Davis Straits, the 



