WALRUSES FIGHTING. 141 



great ferocity on the ice. They use their tusks 

 against one another very much in the manner 

 that gamecocks use their beaks. Prom the 

 animal s unwieldy appearance and the position 

 of his tusks, one is apt to fancy that the latter 

 can only be used in a stroke downwards, but, 

 on the contrary, they can turn their necks with 

 great facility and quickness, and can strike 

 either upwards, downwards, or sideways, with 

 equal dexterity. I have little doubt but that 

 in the amatory season these conflicts are often 

 fatal. 



Old bulls very frequently have one or both 

 of their tusks broken, which may arise either 

 from fighting or from using them to assist in 

 clambering up the ice and rocks. These broken 

 tusks soon get worn and sharpened to a point 

 again by the action of the sand, as the walrus 

 uses his tusks like the elephant and the boar 

 for ploughing his food out of the ground, with 

 this difference, that the operations of the sea- 

 elephant, as he ought to be called, instead of 

 sea-horse, are carried on at the bottom of the 

 sea. 



I have frequently opened the stomachs of 

 walruses and found their food to consist of 

 quantities of sandworms, starfish, shrimps, and 



