So 



The Irish Naturalist. 



August, 1920. 



The seals, too, which abound in Carhngford Lough, were very busy. 

 Mr. Osborne was fishing for mackerel from the steamboat pier in company 

 with a good many other anglers. He had also a line out for congers. It 

 consisted of about thirty yards of the strongest fishing line, a strong 

 conger hook on piano wire, snooding with a strong swdvel, a 2 lb. weight, and 

 a whole mackerel for bait. He cilso had in his coat pocket another 30-yard 

 coil of strong fishing line, very luckily as it turned out. This conger bait 

 was caught and carried out once or twice with a great rush by something 

 unknown, but finally Mr. Osborne hooked the creature firmly. It played 

 with tremendous vigour, and he had to get a bystander, Mr. C. F. Watkins, 

 to hand on the second coil of line. Luckily Mr. Osborne is a strong and 

 resolute man, for he had to hold the creature by main force and, in the 

 struggle, his hands were badly cut and blistered. After about ten minutes 

 it showed for the first time, and turned out to be a seal. It was hooked 

 in the angle of the jaws. The fight continued for fifteen or twenty minutes 

 longer, when the seal began to tire and Mr. Osborne got it near the pier, 

 and someone got a rifle and shot the poor creature. It took five or six 

 shots to kill it. When it was landed, it was found that the hook had slipped 

 from its jaw and was embedded in its shoulder. It was a young Common 

 Seal and weighed 94 lbs., so it was probably about three-quarters grown. 

 I think this is a very remarkable and perhaps unique occurrence. Seals 

 have been sometimes found drowned on long lines, but that such a power- 

 ful s\vimmer could be overcome by a man with a hand line is almost 

 incredible. No doubt the height of the pier from the water helped Mr. 

 Osborne a little. He gave me the details himself, and I may venture to 

 cite from the many witnesses Mr. Watkins, a well-known follower of the 

 Meath Hounds, who helped to land the seal. I have not got the exact 

 date of the capture. 



G. H. Pentland. 



Black Hall, Drogheda. 



Pine Marten in Co. Louth. 



Last winter the keeper at The Glen, Captain Cairns' place near Drogheda, 

 trapped a Marten. He kept it alive for four days, when it made its escape. 

 It has since been seen alive and well, but lame. I have this information 

 from Mr. A. Mitchell, Distillery, Drogheda, who looks after the place for 

 Captain Cairns. Mr. Mitchell is a good naturalist, and has a beautiful 

 stuffed Marten. He has promised that this interesting visitor shall not 

 be molested. 



G. H. Pentland. 



Black Hall, Drogheda. 



