t "old man" drags the female Seal away in
his teeth, and plumps her down in his special part of the beach. Along
comes another big Seal to take her away, and the fight begins again.

Meanwhile, the younger Seals keep out of the way. Strange to say, the
fighting Seals take no food at all, though they are on the beach for
several weeks. A few stones is all they eat, though at other times they
devour numbers of fish at every meal.

EXERCISES

1. How could you tell the Sea-lion from the real Seal? 2. Where are the
Seal "rookeries"? What happens there in the springtime? 3. Why is the
Sea-elephant so named?

LESSON IV

SOME STRANGE NURSERIES

As a rule, nests or nurseries are unknown in the world of fishes. They
lay their eggs and leave them; and the young ones have to fight their
own battles, in a sea full of fierce and hungry enemies. Indeed, it
often happens that a parent fish is eager to make a meal of its own
children!

The Codfish lays about nine million eggs! You would hardly expect the
female Codfish to make a nursery for such a family! She would be much
worse off than the "old woman who lived in a shoe." As a matter of fact,
the eggs are laid in the open sea; and the Cod shows no interest in
them, but leaves them to become food for many a roving enemy.

Those cousins of the Shark,--the Skate and the Dog-fish,--are more
careful of their eggs. Have you ever found their empty eggs on the sea
shore? Children call them "mermaids' purses." But they are more like
little horny pillow-cases than purses.

When first laid, the Dog-fish's egg has a very long string or _tendril_
at each corner. As the fish lays the egg, she winds these tendrils round
and round a sea-plant; thus the egg is fixed firmly until the young one
is ready to escape from within (_see_ p. 49).

The Skate's egg is much the same, only there is no tendril, but a curved
hook at each corner. These hooks, of course, serve as anchors to hold
the egg: no doubt they catch in weeds and stones. One fish, you see,
ties her eggs with strings, the other uses anchors. These large "purse
eggs" are like cradles, and the baby Skates do not slip out of them
until they are quite ready to look after themselves in the ocean.

There are fish in the sea which take great pains to save their eggs and
babies from harm; they will even defend them at the risk of their own
lives. Of course these careful parents do not have huge families, like
the Cod. No; the fish th