THE CRESTED SEAL. 345 



During the season of courtship the males fight desperately with each 

 other, inflicting fearful wounds with their tusk-like teeth, while the 

 females remain aloof, as quiet spectators of the combat. They are 

 polygamous animals, each male being lord over a considerable number 

 of females, whom he rules with despotic sway. When the victorious 

 combatants have chosen their mates, they are very careful about their 

 safety, and refuse to quit them if they should be in any danger. Know- 

 mg this fact, the seal-hunters always direct their attacks upon the 

 females, being sure to capture the male afterward. If they were to kill 

 the male at first, his harem would immediately disperse and fly in terror, 

 but as long as he lives they will continue to crowd round him. 



Although these animals are of so great dimensions and bodily 

 strength, and are furnished with a very formidable set of teeth, they are 

 not nearly such dangerous antagonists as the walrus, and are most 

 apathetic in their habits. When roused, they never use their teeth, but 

 waddle away toward the water, their huge bodies shaking like jelly. So 

 plentifully are they supplied with blubber, that one male will furnish 

 seventy gallons of oil. 



The extraordinary proboscis is not very conspicuous till the animal 

 is excited ; then it protrudes it, blows violently through it, and has a 

 most formidable appearance. The female is entirely destitute of this 

 extraordinary and inexplicable appendage. 



At present the Sea Elephant is found chiefly near the Crozet Islands 

 and Kerguelen's Land, but it seems possible that in a few years it will be 

 as extinct as the Mammoth. 



XIII.— GENUS CYSTOPHORA. 



The preceding genus has the nose developed into a trunk ; this one 

 has it provided with a hood. The head is broad, and the muzzle very 

 short, and over the head stands a cartilaginous crest, six or seven inches 

 in height, supporting a hood-like development of the septum of the 

 nares, which is covered with short brown hair, and can be inflated 

 at will. This extraordinary head-gear is peculiar to the adult male. 

 The genus contains two species. 



The Crested Seal, Cystophora cristata (Plate XXVI) is found spread 

 over the coasts of Southern Greenland, and is in the habit of reposing 

 much upon ice-islands, caring comparatively little for ordinary land. It 

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