142 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. 



dent from observations made upon it in captivity. In fur- 

 ther illustration of this point I quote the following from Mr. 

 Brown's important paper on the Seals of Greenland and Spitz - 

 bergen, from which I have already quoted so largely. Mr. 

 Brown says, in referring to the subject of its naturalization in 

 zoological gardens : "I cannot better conclude these notes on 

 the habits of the Walrus than by describing a young one I saw 

 on board a ship in Davis's Straits, in 1861, and which, had it 

 survived, was intended for the Zoological Society. It was 

 caught near the Duck-Islands off the coast of North Green- 

 land, and at the same time its mother was killed ; it was then 

 sucking, and too young to take the water, so that it fell an easy 

 prey to its captors. It could only have been pupped a very few 

 hours. It was then three feet in length, but already the canine 

 tusks were beginning to cut the gums. When I first saw it, it 

 was grunting about the deck, sucking a piece of its mother's 

 blubber, or sucking the skin which lay on deck, at the place 

 where the teats were. It was subsequently fed on oatmeal and 

 water and pea-soup, and seemed to thrive upon this outre nour- 

 ishment. No fish could be got for it ; and the only animal food 

 which it obtained was a little freshened beef or pork, or Bear's 

 flesh, which it readily ate. It had its likes and dislikes, and its 

 favorites on board, whom it instantly recognized. It became 

 exceedingly irritated if a newspaper was shaken in its face, 

 when it would run open-mouthed all over the deck after the 

 perpetrator of this literary outrage. When a 'fall'* was 

 called it would immediately run at a clumsy rate (about one 

 and a half or two miles' an hour), first into the surgeon's cabin, 

 then into the captain's (being on a level with the quarterdeck), 

 apparently to see if they were up, and then out again, granting 

 all about the deck in a most excited manner < awuk ! awuk I ' 

 When the men were ' rallying 't it would imitate the operation, 

 though clumsily, rarely managing to get more than its own 

 length before it required to turn again. It lay during the day 

 basking in the sun, lazily tossing its nippers in the air, and ap- 

 peared perfectly at home and not at all inclined to change its 

 condition. One day the captain tried it in the water for the 



* " When a boat gets 'fast' to a wliale, all tlie rest of the crew ran shout- 

 ing about the decks, as they get the other boats out, 'A fall ! a fall! ' It is 

 apparently derived from the Dutch word ' Val', a whale." 



t " When a ship gets impeded by loose ice gathering around it, the crew rush 

 in a body from side to side so as to loosen it, by swaying the ship from 

 beam to beam. This is called 'rallying the ship'." 



