432 TEACHING " THE YOUNG IDEA." 



ing not unlike a horse stretching his hide, awkwardly 

 spreading out his flippers, and twisting his tail toward 

 his head. Again he will wriggle about in the most 

 grotesque manner the sailors call it ' squirming ' every 

 now and then rubbing his head against the snow. The 

 shapes of a seal, or rather his aspects, are full of strange 

 variety. At a side view, with his caudal end slued round 

 to the side from you, and his head lifted suspiciously in 

 the air, he is the exact image of a dog chien de mer. 

 During his wriggles, he resembles a great snail : a little 

 while after, he turns his back to you, and rises up on his 

 side flippers like a couching hunter preparing for a shot, 

 the very image of an Eskimo." 



The seal is polygamous, and invariably defends his 

 spouses with a truly chivalrous courage, while, during 

 the breeding season, he watches over them in the most 

 affectionate and attentive manner. The female gives 

 birth to one or two cubs at a time ; always selecting for 

 her retreat a litter of sea- weed or aquatic plants at some 

 distance from the shore. She does not return to the 

 water until her young are strong enough to accompany 

 her, or in about a fortnight after birth. How she sup- 

 ports herself during the interval is not positively known, 

 but it is most probable that the male carries to her a 

 supply of food. When the young seal reaches the water's 

 edge, its mother teaches it to swim, and keeps a vigilant 

 eye over it while it gambols with others of its own kind. 

 Should signs of danger appear, she takes it upon her 

 back, and hastens to convey it to a place of safety. The 

 suckling-season lasts for four or five months ; at the 

 end of which, when the youngster can attend to its 

 own wants, the old male drives it to a distance, and 



