ANIMALS' TOILETTES* 



THE sailor's fancy that pictured the mermaid 

 sitting on a rock with * a glass and a comb ' in 

 her hand was not quite the myth it seems. Weary 

 of male companionship, he painted the bright-eyed 

 seals as sea-maidens. But if for ' glass ' we read 

 4 fan/ we may take it as a true account of the seal's 

 toilette. These harmless and affectionate creatures, 

 have, fixed to their front flipper, a neat little comb, 

 with which, when resting on the rocks, they care- 

 fully arrange and smooth the fur on their faces. 

 But the Northern fur-seals are very sensitive to 

 heat ; and when assembled in the rookeries on the 

 Pribilov Islands, both old and young may be seen 

 in thousands, lying on their sides, and fanning 

 themselves with their fore-flippers. The writer 

 noticed that Barnum's showman had taken advan- 



* This chapter, almost in its present form, was originally written for the Spectator 

 n 1893. It was quoted at length in various American papers, without reference to 

 he source from which it came, and the writer found a portion of it quoted in Mrs 

 Brightwen's book, Mjre About Wild Nature, and attributed to an American Journal. 



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