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the fog always hangs about and robs us of many a chance; certainly it often enables us to steal upon our prey. The doings of the seals to-day were a puzzle to us. That there are days when the birds on a moor will lie well to the dog has not escaped the observation of the mildest sportsman, and it is a question with experienced grouse shooters whether the birds on some occasions are not frightened by some soaring hawk in the blue vault above, into sullen disregard to the presence of the sportsman, or the condition of the atmosphere on these particular days renders the birds, usually so wary, dull and indifferent to their pursuers. Whatever may be the cause, we noticed that the seals crept farther in on the ice, and were evidently reluctant to take to the water when disturbed. Could it have been that some enemy, of whose presence we were unconscious, was lurking there to attack them if they ventured in? This we had no means of explaining, as the success with our guns, firing as we did from the ship's deck, or from the ice itself, when we ventured in pur suit of some great seal whose position justified our approaching in this wise, was far greater than on any previous occasion. The ice to-day was so open we found no difficulty in sailing towards the dull seals, and the boats were sent off to collect our spoils without difficulty, though the labour was incessant.

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Boy Jack was a stripling of thirteen years, the son of a hardy seaman, who has determined to bring up the lad to his own calling from his earliest years; having this object in view he was given over to the tender care of our cook. Nothing seems to escape the quick eye of the youngster, and in the late busy adventures he is everywhere, full of childish glee at the prospect of sport like this. Look," shouts the lad, pointing to a little hecatomb of seals prostrate on the ice, "there! there is a pussy not dead yet, and he's biting his mother!" Sure enough, the young seal evidently is furtively biting at a dead one, and it is equally evident that the poor beast is endeavouring to rouse its parent to flee for her life, little heeding the weapons of the of the crew, in its almost human solicitude for its natural protector. It is of no avail; a bullet fired by the hand of some considerate sailor, takes the life it could of itself hardly sustain, now that it is deprived of the watchful care of its dam.

Of all the curious and abnormal modes of progression on land, practised by animals, commend us to the seal. There are walkers, runners, leaping, bounding, hopping, skipping, creeping animals; and these suggest to the anatomist the most dissimilar modes of progression. Some raise the body in erect or semi-erect postures; others, by far the greater number, carry the body hori

zontally above, and support it on four feet, while others again, as the sloths, suspend the body and head downwards, moving more slowly amongst the branches of trees, with a series of successive clutches of their hooked claws; then there are the various modes by which the feet and hands are approximated to the ground they move upon. Either the foot is placed flat, as in the bear's way of walking, or the knuckles, the rims of the soles, or the tips of the claws are used as the fulcra; the tail again is the means of support to some monkeys and the opossum. By means of the tail in these creatures, the body either hangs suspended or is swung forward in the progress of the animal.

But

of all the odd movements, and as Dr. Murie says, "the most sadly ridiculous one, is the shuffling, wriggling, belly progressive gait of many of the seal tribe on terra firma." The walrus has been seen to waddle on all fours, and the eared seal has a somewhat similar power of locomotion, but the west ice seals differ little except in size from the ordinary seal of our coasts (unless when the coat is dry, when it is of a lighter colour), except in those cases which are far from infrequent, when there is no coat of fur whatever, and the great animals have almost lost all pretensions to form and outline owing to their inordinate fat. Then, indeed, there is no

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mistaking them for any other; all trace in such specimens of the dark patch across the loins by which the species is recognised as the harp seal, or saddle-back seal, is lost. The distinguished anatomist we have quoted had a capital opportunity of observing the motions of the Greenland seal in confinement, and he has ably pointed out the difference of the gait of the saddle-back when compared with others. He states that this seal very often uses its fore-limbs, placing them on the ground in a semigrasping manner, and by an alternate use of them drags its body along. The hind legs, meantime, are either trailed behind slightly apart, or with opposed plantar surfaces slightly raised and shut stiffly behind. On uneven ground, or in attempting to climb, a peculiar lateral wriggling movement is made, and at such times, besides alternate palmar action, the body and the hind legs describe a sinuous semispiral or wave-track. And he goes on to state that it was not until he had well thought over this pawcreeping movement of the northern seal that he fully appreciated an incident related by Mr. Charles Davidson, which that gentleman had been witness to in one of his Arctic voyages.

"At more than a mile distance from their ship a solitary seal was noticed lying dozing near an "escape

hole" on the ice. An Esquimaux thereupon, in his seal-skin garment and hood, formed quite like the head of the animal he was in pursuit of, and with lance and rope coil, slowly crawled towards the creature. For a while it apparently took little notice of him, but at last showed indications of being on the alert. The man by this time was still far off, but the moment he observed the seal watching him, he advanced perfectly sealfashion, and whilst it steadily gazed, evidently mistaking him for one of its own species, as he at times imitated to very life every phocine movement, he approached within a very short distance. Then suddenly starting up he sent his lance whirling into the creature's vitals ere it could scramble in safety to the blow-hole."