ELEPHANT SEAL: HABITS 245 



very dirty with the expelled mucus. They also have a habit of keeping one nostril 

 tightly closed and breathing only with the other (Plate XXIII, fig. 3). 



Progress on Land. When travelling on the land elephant seal carry the head well 

 raised, and always use the fore flippers, while the hind flippers are trailed uselessly 

 on the ground. The fore flippers are spread out at the side with the palms on the ground 

 and the fore part of the body is raised by them and hitched forward. At the same time 

 that the fore part is being raised, the back is curved upwards, so that the hind flippers 

 are drawn up slightly nearer, and as the front flippers hitch forward, the back is 

 straightened, and the body is pushed forward from the pelvic region. When hurried, 

 on a good surface, such as hard level snow, a big bull can do about five miles an hour 

 — a man has to run to keep up with him — but he very soon becomes exhausted. When 

 undisturbed they move forwards a few steps and then drop the head down and rest 

 for a little, then move a few yards further and rest again, and so on. Nevertheless, 

 they wander for considerable distances from the shore. In King Haakon Bay and the 

 Bay of Isles the writer has seen them over a half a mile from the beach, and in spite 

 of their unwieldiness they sometimes climb up on the tussac-covered hills, over uneven 

 ground, to a height of 60 or 70 ft. 



Swimming. In entering the sea the elephant seal go down the beach and into the 

 water in the usual land-progression manner, but, before the water is deep enough to 

 cover them completely, they duck their heads under and start swimming with powerful 

 strokes of their hind flippers : this soon carries them ofl^ into deeper water. The hind 

 flippers only are used for swimming, the plantar surfaces being opposed and the webs 

 more or less expanded according to the amount of speed required. If they are hurried 

 the webs are widely expanded and very vigorously sculled from side to side. When 

 floating on the surface in still water in the bays they like to bring the head and hind 

 flippers above the water at the same time, but at sea they have only been observed 

 with the head alone out of the water. They are able to stay under water for twelve 

 minutes at least, the writer having timed a dive of this length, and in his opinion they 

 are able to stop below longer than this without undue inconvenience. On the occasion 

 of this twelve-minute dive, which was the longest timed, the seal did not appear to be 

 short of breath when it reappeared, and it soon dived again. On other occasions, when 

 seals have been driven into the water to find the duration of the dive, they have not 

 returned to the surface within sight at all. 



Colour. The colour of the pups after they have shed their first black woolly coats 

 is silvery grey, darker dorsally and lighter ventrally. The new coat of the cows and small 

 bulls is slightly darker in colour, sometimes tinged with yellow, and it gradually 

 becomes darker until it is a grey brown by the time it is shed. The new coat of the 

 big bulls is light grey brown and becomes darker like that of the cows and small bulls. 

 In all it is darker dorsally than ventrally, and there are no markings. The new coats of 

 the seal soon become stained a yellowish or greenish brown by the mixture of mud and 

 bright orange faeces in the wallows. The colour of the coat also appears much lighter 

 when one looks at it with the lie of the hair than when one looks at it against the lie. 



