7i8 THE CARNIVORES 



summer it also visited the Pribilof islands in large numbers. These animals were 

 likewise common on the Aleutian islands; but in the more southern portions of 

 their range they were always sparsely distributed. Up to the year 1874 they were 

 still found in innumerable herds where the waters of the Arctic Sea join with those 

 of Behring Strait, and also in Behring Sea; but since that date their diminution 

 has been rapid. It is stated that between the years 1870 and 1880 close on 2,000,000 

 gallons of walrus oil, and 400,000 pounds of ivory were obtained from these regions; 

 thus representing the destruction of not far short of 100,000 animals. When the 

 Russians first opened up the Pribilof islands, walruses were found in numbers on 

 both St. Paul's and St. George's, but they soon retreated to Walrus island, leaving 

 the other two to their less timorous cousins the sea-bears and sea-lions. It is 

 stated that in a single year upward of 28,000 pounds of walrus ivory were obtained 

 from the Pribilofs alone. 



In prehistoric times the range of the Atlantic walrus was much more extensive 

 than during the historic epoch, on both the eastern and the western sides of the 

 Atlantic. Thus its remains have been dredged up from the Dogger Bank off the 

 eastern coast of England; while a skull was dug up from the peat near Ely, indi- 

 cating that the animal formerly inhabited the valley of the Ouse, which was at that 

 time probably an estuary. On the eastern coast of America walrus bones have been 

 dug up as far south as New Jersey, Virginia, and even California. At a still earlier 

 period walruses, which are considered to belong to an extinct species, inhabited 

 both the eastern coast of England and the shores of Belgium ; numerous remains 

 having been obtained from the so-called crags of the Pliocene period in both 

 countries. 



There appears to be no well-marked difference between the habits of 

 the Atlantic and Pacific varieties. Walruses are usually found in the 

 neighborhood of shores or masses of floating ice, and are but seldom seen in the 

 open sea. As a rule, they associate in companies or herds, depending in size upon 

 the number of individuals in the particular locality. In addition to this fondness 

 for each other's company, Baron Nordenskjold states that curiosity is a distinguish- 

 ing trait of the walrus, and relates how that when on one occasion he rowed right 

 into the midst of a herd, "part followed the boat long distances quite peaceably, 

 now and then emitting a grunting sound; others swam quite close, and raised them- 

 selves high out of the water, in order to take a view of the strangers. Others 

 again, lay so closely packed on pieces of drift-ice as to sink them down to the 

 water's edge, while their comrades swimming about in the sea endeavored with 

 violence to gain a position on the already overfilled resting places, though a num- 

 ber of unoccupied pieces of ice floated up and down in the neighborhood." 

 When on shore, or on an ice floe, the various members of a party of walruses are 

 described as huddling and pressing together against one another like pigs. From 

 April to June, according to the latitude, is the breeding season; and during this 

 period the walruses are stated to remain on shore for about a fortnight, during 

 which time they neither eat nor drink. Usually there is but a single young 

 produced at a birth ; and there is never more than a pair. The young are stated to- 

 be suckled by the parent for upward of two years; and it is hence believed that 



