BLACK-BACKED GULL AND SEALS. 83 



slumber, in full enjoyment of the warm sunshine. 

 It was impossible to get within rifle-shot in 

 an open row-boat, as the sound of the oars, 

 even when muffled, soon reached their ears and 

 alarmed them. Now and then, while I was mac- 

 kerel-fishing in a sailing-boat, a seal would 

 perhaps indiscreetly raise his head out of the 

 water within thirty yards, and as I always kept a 

 rifle ready for such a chance, I occasionally suc- 

 ceeded in bagging one after a long chase, the first 

 shot rarely proving fatal, although sufficiently 

 severe, perhaps, to compel the animal to reappear 

 on the surface in less time than if he had not 

 been badly wounded. Then commenced a chase 

 in the row-boat, the seal repeatedly diving, but 

 each time remaining for a shorter period under 

 water, until at last I could get near enough to 

 shoot him through the head, while the man in the 

 bow would endeavour, though not always success- 

 fully, to secure the prize with the boat-hook before 

 it sank lifeless under the surface. 



Far different tactics were necessary when trying 

 to circumvent the seals as they dozed on the sand- 

 banks. Watching until the tide had more than 

 half retired, and always before the ebb, I used to 

 conceal myself in a light, shallow, flat-bottomed 

 punt, where I lay on my face, covered with sea- 



