SEALS AND SEA LIONS 235 



ance in any respect. Most of the animals get 

 so accustomed in time to do one particular 

 thing after the other that it becomes mechani- 

 cal, and should a trainer decide to cut out 

 one trick, he would find great difficulty in 

 doing it, because the animal would often insist 

 on going straight ahead until finished. 



Tesca would go straight through a per- 

 formance very often with no deviation from 

 the regular schedule, but then again very often 

 he would not. Sometimes he would begin the 

 very last trick before he had got through the 

 first, or seem bewildered as to what Captain 

 Woodward wanted him to do. But he was also 

 Wonderfully quick in knowing when he was 

 doing wrong and when reproved would always 

 give a peculiar little deprecating cry as 

 though he had just found it out; he would 

 then start in properly again, evidently fully 

 appreciating the little bit of praise when he 

 had done right. 



But the one performer who interested me 

 most among all these animals was Toby, a 

 seal. The first time I ever saw Toby he was 



