iliar with seals is struck with their plaintive,
intelligent faces, and any one who has seen the seals from time to time
living in the Zoological Gardens must have been pleased with the marks
of attention paid by them to their keepers. Dr Edmonston of Balta Sound
has published in the "Memoirs of the Wernerian Society"[146] a graphic
and valuable paper on the distinctions, history, and hunting of seals in
the Shetland Isles. As that gentleman is a native of Unst, and had, when
he wrote the Memoir, been for more than twenty years actively engaged in
their pursuit, both as an amusement and as a study, we may extract two
or three interesting passages.

He remarks (p. 29) on the singular circumstance that so few additions
have been made to the list of domestic animals bequeathed to us from
remote antiquity, and mentions the practicability of an attempt being
made to tame seals; and also says that it is yet to be learned whether
they would breed in captivity and remain reclaimed from the wild state.
The few instances recorded in books of natural history of tame seals
refer to the species called _Phoca vitulina_, but of the processes of
rearing and education we have no details. "The trials," continues Dr
Edmonston, "I have made on these points have been equally numerous on
the great as on the common seal. By far the most interesting one I ever
had was a young male of the _barbata_ species: he was taken by myself
from a cave when only a few hours old, and in a day or two became as
attached as a dog to me. The varied movements and sounds by which he
expressed delight at my presence and regret at my absence were most
affecting; these sounds were as like as possible to the inarticulate
tones of the human voice. I know no animal capable of displaying more
affection than he did, and his temper was the gentlest imaginable. I
kept him for four or five weeks, feeding him entirely on warm milk from
the cow; in my temporary absence butter-milk was given to him, and he
died soon after.

"Another was a female, also of the great seal species, which we captured
in a cave when about six weeks old, in October 1830. This individual
would never allow herself to be handled but by the person who chiefly
had the charge of her, yet even she soon became comparatively familiar.

"It was amusing to see how readily she ascended the stairs, which she
often did, intent, as it seemed, on examining every room in the house;
on showing towards her signs of