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Show 410 MR. R, BROWN ON THE SEALS OF GREENLAND. [Julie 25, The voice of the Seal is a peculiar cry, somewhat midway between that of a young child and the bleating of a lamb or kid. They are very fond of music, which was well known to the ancients ; and this fondness is often taken advantage of by the hunters at the present day *. I have often seen them raising their heads inquiringly out of the water listening to the sea-songs of the sailors as they wrought at the pumps or tracked the ship to the ice-floe ; therefore it seems as if the fabled spell of Orpheus, which was powerless on the Dolphin, takes effect upon the Seals. In moving from one place to another they swim rapidly, sometimes on their backs and often on their sides, occasionally whirling about as if to amuse themselves, and sometimes leaping out of the water altogether. Their parental love is so great that they will sometimes remain and share the fate of their hapless young. Their instinctive knowledge of danger is very keen ; they have been known to seize their young with their flippers and carry them into the water with them when they saw the hunter approaching! I did not see this myself, and only ask you to receive the statement for what it is worth. Seals are very tenacious of life, and difficult to kill, unless by a bullet through the brain or heart. They are so quickly flensed f, that after having been deprived of their skin they have been seen to strike out in the water; so that the sympathies of the rough hunters have been so excited that they will pierce the heart several times with their knives before throwing away the carcass. These movements, however, are apparently reflex or diastaltic, as I have often seen a Seal lying skinned on the deck for an hour, exposed to a temperature of 12° below zero (Fahr.), and yet the muscles of the loins and back retain their contractility to such an extent as to be able to rotate the pelvis on the spine, on those on each side being alternately irritated. With the exception of the Bladdernose, the other Seals in the Greenland seas appear to have little or no combativeness in their nature, but are a harmless, persecuted, sportive race of graceful athletes making merry the solitary waters of polar lands. On the other hand, the male Bladdernose is, in truth, the lion of the sea, dividing the empire of the polar waters with his huge ally the Walrus. Instead of flying at the approach of the hunter, he will quite calmly await the approach of danger, preparing for defence by betaking himself to the centre of the piece of ice he is on, and blowing up the air-bladder on his forehead, while he rears his head and snuffs the air like an enraged bull, and often gives battle successfully, * It is often alluded to by the ancient poets (thus, " gaudebant carmine phoca*," Apol. Rhod. lib. 1; Val. Flacc. lib. 5. lin. 440, &c.); and all ancient historians especially note that it is " perstudiosum musicae." The well-known passage in Sir W . Scott's poem also refers to this,- " Rude Heiskars seals through surges dark Will long pursue the minstrel's bark." t A convenient whaler's word (of Dutch origin) to expreu the operation of taking offthe blubber (and skin). |