THE COMMON SEAL. <265 



The female is said to bring forth but once in the year, and 

 to have but one or two at a birth, which she suckles and 

 protects with great tenderness and care. 



Seals, when taken young, are capable of being completely 

 domesticated; will answer to their name, and follow their 

 master from place to place. 



In January, 1819, a gentleman, in the neighbourhood of 

 Burntisland, county of Fife, in Scotland, completely succeeded 

 in taming a seal. Its singularities attracted the curiosity of 

 strangers daily. It appeared to possess all the sagacity of a 

 dog, lived in its master's house, and ate from his hand. In 

 his fishing excursions, this gentleman generally took it with 

 him, when it afforded no small entertainment. If thrown into 

 the water, it would follow for miles the track of the boat ; and 

 although thrust back by the oars, it never relinquished its 

 purpose: indeed it struggled so hard to regain its seat, that 

 one would imagine its fondness for its master had entirely 

 overcome the natural predilection for its native element. 



In the Regent's Park Zoological Gardens there is, at the 

 present time, a tame seal ; which from the grotesque singularity 

 of its movements when on land, and the general intelligence 

 and docility it evinces, proves a source of considerable amuse- 

 ment and interest to the visitors. This animal., which has 

 been a prisoner nearly three years, was captured somewhere 

 on the eastern coast, and brought up the river Orwell 5 where 

 it fell into the hands of a small innkeeper at Ipswich, who 

 contrived, for the first few weeks, to keep it alive by forcing 

 flour down its throat, as it obstinately refused to take food of 

 its own accord. In a short time, however, it became reconciled 

 to its new condition, and devoured fish most voraciously, eating 

 thirty or forty small flounders in a day. Its favourite mode 

 of taking them was in a tub of salt water, in which it was 

 allowed to bathe. A small straw sty was erected for it in the 

 inn -yard 5 but it would always lie outside the house door when 

 left to follow its own inclination. Although it followed persons 

 with whom it was familiar like a dog, it was not safe to play 



