It is well known that seals have a great deal of curiosity, and are easily attracted by any unusual sounds, especially if they are gentle and long-continued. It is therefore easy to entice them into the nets by making such noises, for instance, gentle whistling, rattling on the ice with the pick, and so forth. Two special implements are also used for this purpose. The first kind I have called: [Footnote N348: Voyage, pp. 295, 574.] [Footnote N349: Vega, vol. 2, p. 108.] [Footnote N350: Ibid., p. 98.] [Footnote N351: See also the reference to Hooper’s Corwin Report, quoted below under Hunting.] [Footnote N352: See, however, the writer’s paper in the American Anthropologist, vol. 1, p. 333.] _Seal calls_ (adrigautĭn).--This implement consists of three or four claws mounted on the end of a short wooden handle, and is used to make a gentle noise by scratching on the ice. It is a common implement, though I never happened to see it in use. We obtained six specimens, of which No. 56555 [90] Fig. 253_a_, is the type. It is 11½ inches long. The round handle is of ash, the claws are those of the bearded seal, secured by a lashing of sinew braid, with the end brought down on the under side to a little blunt, backward-pointing hook of ivory, set into the wood about 1 inch from the base of the arms. Fig. 253_b_ (No. 56557 [93] from Utkiavwĭñ is 9½ inches long and has four prongs. The haft is of spruce, and instead of an ivory hook there is a round-headed stud of the same material, which is driven wholly through the wood, having the point cut off flush with the upper surface. It has a lanyard of seal twine knotted into the hole in the haft. The other two specimens of this pattern, Nos. 56556 [100] and 56558 [51] have each three claws, and hafts of soft wood, painted with red ocher, with lanyards, and are respectively 10.4 and 10.7 inches long. One has an ivory hook, but the other in place of this has a small iron nail, and is ornamented with a medium-sized sky-blue glass bead inlaid in the back. The other two are both new and small, being respectively 7.5 and 7.6 inches long. The hafts are made of reindeer antler and have only two prongs. No. 89467 [1312] from Utkiavwĭñ, has the haft notched on each side, and has an irregular stud of bone for securing the lashing. [Illustration: FIG. 253.--Scratchers for decoying seals.]