SCOTIA BAY, SOUTH ORKNEYS, 1904 99 



although if the dog was near by they pursued him more energetically, swooping over 

 him and hitting him a good smack with their feet. They rly over people in the same 

 way but never appear to hit anyone. If one stands at the nest, they keep Hying around 

 for a few minutes but soon come within a yard or two. A young gull, still completely 

 downy, ran away from me and took readily to the water, swimming with case. 



Over 100 Weddell seals on the beach on the west side of Scotia Bay. In observing 

 closelv their coats one finds there is a great variation, no two being alike, and they seem 

 to lie in all stages of changing coats ; some even have a complete old coat, of which the 

 hairs can easily be pulled out. Then again the colour varies greatly, and apart from 

 actual variations it differs according to your point of view, i.e., whether you look from 

 Ward with the lie of the hair, abeam, or from aft for'ard against the grain. When 

 looking aft, and to a less extent abeam, there is a silvery sort of sheen which is quite 

 awaiiting if they are viewed from aft. Some few were of an almost uniform creamy 

 colour with a yellowish tinge, sometimes a greenish yellow, and in two cases a brownish 

 yellow. In practically every one the dorsal aspect is darker than the ventral. 

 Mottling is practically always visible, but where the old coat is complete it may be 

 very indistinct. The amount and size of the mottling also varies very much and 

 may take the form of small spots or of large patches. Generally speaking however, 

 it comes to be light spots with a dark ground dorsally and dark spots with a light 

 ground ventrally. The mottling is best seen veutrally and about the flippers, as 

 these are the first places to cast the old coat ; a broad dorsal ridge is the last 

 region to change. The coloration of the new coat is on an average a dark slatey-grey 

 in the dark parts and a yellowish white in the light, but the exact shades vary very 

 much in their intensity. 



/ 



Not many of these seals showed scars only one bad case was seen and that was 

 on a this year's seal, which had a large bare patch over the back of the skull (an 

 unusual situation), extending the whole width of the skull about 5 inches in width at 

 its greatest and it had one eye badly injured. A large proportion, both male and 

 female, have sores (now mostly healed) about the genital organs. 



Jan. 30th. A male sea-leopard shot on the North Beach. Length, 8 feet 1H 

 inches ; stomach contained only a great quantity of small crustaceans. 



Jan. 31st. Three species of penguins; young adelias now pretty abundant and 

 many have not yet lost all their down. Nellies, gulls, skuas, terns and Wilson's petrels. 



Numerous whales seen blowing to the north-west. Two Weddell seals on The 

 Beach. 



Feb. \st. Three species of penguins, skuas, gulls, nellies, terns, shags and Wilson's 

 petrels. 



Had three hauls of the dredge in the eastern part of the head of Scotia Bay. 



First haul, 1:2 to 15 fathoms, shingle, weed and mud : star-fish, one heart-urchin, a 

 large chaetopod and an annelid tube, some limpets, sea-spiders, and small gasteropoda 

 and amphipods. 



