20 The Irish NatwaUst. January, 



notched coast- line, some part of which always affords shelter 

 from wind and sea, and the caves, which in more than one place 

 form lofty chambers, 150 feet in length, inaccessible from above, 

 with pebbly floors that extend above high water, are consider- 

 ations that recommend Lambay to these beautiful and interesting 

 creatures. The species, as might be expected from the sur- 

 roundings, is not the Common Seal (Phoca vitulina), but the 

 Grey Seal (Halichcerus grypus), the larger animal of the two, 

 which is known to breed in small companies off the Shetlands, 

 Hebrides, and southern and western coasts of Ireland, and 

 which appears from time to time on different parts of the British 

 and Irish shores. At any point off the Lambay coast it is a 

 common sight to see two or three of these seals swimming in the 

 water, but naturally they are of tenest seen near the caves, inside 

 which the young for the first few months of their lives spend most 

 of their time. Sometimes in bad weather a young one will be 

 found left high up on the wrack-covered rocks, while the mother 

 waits in the water within call (Plate 8, fig. 1-3)- There are cer- 

 tain rocks to which the old seals resort regulaily on a falling tide, 

 and on which they lie, often making their presence known by the 

 prolonged cries, like the howling of a wolf, with which they give 

 vent to their feelings ; at the same time they draw their toes up 

 and spread the pink webs fan- wise. The tail, which in one 

 individual (probably a female) was conspicuous, and about one- 

 third of the length of the hind limbs, is also capable of active 

 movement. A big old seal is a very heavy, powerful animal, 

 fully seven feet long, as judged by the eye, bulky in propor- 

 tion, and able to swim without embarrassment in the heavy 

 swells which break violently against the rocky coast. When 

 undisturbed, they play in the water, or lie stretched out on the 

 rocks, now and then apparently stooping to drink ; when their 

 attention is attracted they do not swim away, but tread water, in 

 which erect position the large inquiring eye, long muzzle, and 

 thick folds oi skin under the chin invest them with an air of 

 calm and benignant solemnity, different from that which most 

 wild animals exhibit in the presence of man. On the 25th of 

 June, 1905, a boat containing some of the writers of the fore- 

 going and succeeding pages was accompanied by a seal, which 

 alternately dived and came up near the boat, from Sunk Island 

 to the Burren Rocks, a distance of about a mile and a quarter. 



