URSINE SEAL. 267 



rest, and is sometimes so numerous as to amount 

 to above an hundred. The old animals which 

 have been deserted by the females, are said to live 

 apart, and are most excessively splenetic and 

 quarrelsome. They are extremely fierce, and 

 enormously fat. It sometimes happens that they 

 approach or intrude upon each other's station, in 

 which case a battle ensues between the two indi- 

 viduals ; and they, in the conflict, disturb the re- 

 pose of some of their neighbours, till in the end 

 the discord becomes universal, and is in a manner 

 spread through the whole shore. Exclusive of 

 the contests between these solitary males, similar 

 disagreements take place between those who live 

 in a more social state ; either from invading each 

 others seats, endeavouring to allure the females, 

 or interfering in the disputes of their neighbours. 

 These conflicts are very violent, and the wounds 

 they receive are very deep, and resemble the cuts 

 of a sabre. At the end of the fray they fling 

 themselves into the sea to wash away the blood. 

 They shew a great attachment to their young, 

 and shew all the signs of the deepest concern on 

 losing them. 



The Ursine Seal is an inhabitant of the islands 

 in the neighbourhood of Kamstchatka. In these 

 islands they are seen from June to September, 

 during which time they breed and educate their 

 young. In September they are said to quit their 

 stations, and to return, some to the Asiatic, and 

 some to the American shore; but are generally 

 confined to a space in those seas between lat. 50 





