SEALS BIRDS. 87 
na, of which we had seen so many, was not with 
them. 
" With a good glass, you may study these animals 
in their natural habitudes undisturbed by suspicion. 
As thus seen, in the centre of a large floe, and within 
retreating distance of his hole, the seal is a perfect pic- 
ture of solitary enjoyment, rolling not unlike a horse 
stretching his hide, awkwardly spreading out his flip- 
pers, and twisting his rump 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 me?: 
During his wriggles, he resembles a great snail : a lit- 
tle 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 Esquimaux. 
"It is said by the systematic writers that the ice- 
hole of the Vituline seal is often used by several of 
them in common. This was not confirmed by our ob- 
servations while in the pack. Each animal seemed 
to have its separate hole, though two of them would 
occasionally be close to one another. 
" The Bearded seal (P. barbata) attains a greater 
size than any of these. Two overgrown obese mon- 
sters were seen at a distance. They are regarded by 
the Danes as differing only in age from the Greenland 
seal (P. Groenlandica), the lighter color and greater 
fineness of the fur being a universal accompaniment 
of youth. 
" I shot to-day several specimens of the white gull 
