Page:Natural History (1848).djvu/107

Rh displays much cunning and power of swimming. In the Scottish estuaries it destroys great quantities of salmon. It is itself the object of pursuit, for the sake of its skin and blubber. "The fishing commences in autumn, and is practised by means of nets, stretched across narrow sounds where the Seals are in the habit of swimming. In these nets they are entangled, but it is only the young that can be thus captured; the old ones are shot, or their recesses and caves are entered at night by boatmen with torches and bludgeons, upon which the animals, alarmed by the glare and the shouts of the men, rush tumultuously forward to sea, and as they push along in confusion and terror, they are knocked on the heads with clubs, the men being duly stationed for that purpose." The senses of this animal seem to be very acute, and hence much caution is requisite to secure them. Mr. Hogg, in a communication to Mr. Bell, observes, "I have often been out in a boat in the Tees estuary, endeavouring to shoot a Seal, but never could succeed; for the Seal, on seeing the flash occasioned by the flint and steel of the gun-lock, instantly dived."; It is destroyed by a comparatively slight blow on the forehead or muzzle.