THE AMPHIBIOUS CARNIVORA. ?i 



beginning of June," says Crantz, " they come back, 

 young and all, like a flock of sheep. They seem to 

 observe a certain fixed time, and track, like the 

 birds of passage, and take a route that is free from 

 ice ; therefore the ships from Spitzbergen can 

 freely follow them. We can pretty well ascertain 

 the day at the end of May when they will be again 

 at Frederick Hope ; and in the beginning of June 

 at Good Hope, and so further north.* 



Another interesting particular in regard to their 

 migrations is, that, like some other migratory 

 creatures, and more especially birds, they usu- 

 ally affect particular spots, where, having once 

 been located, they will always in preference re* 

 turn, and will scarcely leave, though beset with 

 many and great dangers. Thus in some desolate 

 recess of the ocean, if fifty islets be grouped to- 

 gether in nearly apparent uniformity and sterility, 

 it will often be found that the Seals habitually re- 

 sort and crowd upon some two or three favoured 

 ones, to the complete neglect of all the others. We 

 do not venture to say that they, in their wisdom, 

 have not some good reason for this, though hitherto it 

 is unascertained. Occasionally it has been observed 

 that in some of these resorts there is a stream of salu- 

 brious water, which, if not quite essential, is yet an 

 object of first-rate importance to them, and possibly 

 in every instance there is some equally satisfactory 

 reason for their choice. 



Greenland, p. 129. 



