Chap. XVII.] LAW OF BATTLE. 229 



Africa as almost invariably showing the scars received in 

 former contests. 



The law of battle prevails with aquatic as with terres- 

 trial mammals. It is notorious how desperately male seals 

 fight, both with their teeth and claws, during the breed- 

 ing-Season; and their hides are likewise often covered 

 with scars. Male sperm-whales are very jealous at this 

 season ; and in their battles " they often lock their jaws 

 together, and turn on their sides and twist about ; " so 

 that it is believed by some naturalists that the frequently 

 deformed state of their lower jaws is caused by these 

 struggles. ** 



All male animals which are furnished with special 

 weapons for fighting, are well known to engage in fierce 

 battles. The courage and the desperate conflicts of stags 

 have often been described ; their skeletons have been 

 found in various parts of the world, with the horns inex- 

 tricably locked together, showing how miserably the vic- 

 tor and vanquished had perished.^ No animal in the 

 world is so dangerous as an elephant in must. Lord Tan- 

 kerville has given me a graphic descrijDtion of the battles 

 between the wild-bulls in Chillingham Park, the descend- 

 ants, degenerated in size but not in courage, of the gigan- 

 tic Hos 2)fimigenius. In 1861 several contended for mas- 

 tery ; and it was observed that two of the younger bulls 

 attacked in concert the old leader of the herd, overthrew 

 and disabled him, so that he was believed by the keepers 



2 On the battles of seals, see Captain C. Abbott in ' Proc. Zool. Soc.' 

 1868, p. 191; also Mr. H. Brown, ibid. 1869, p. 436; also L. Lloyd, 

 'Game-Birds of Sweden,' 1867, p. 412; also Pennant. On the sperm- 

 whale, sec Mr. J. H. Thompson, in 'Proc. Zool. Soc' 1867, p. 246. 



' See Scrope (' Art of Deer-stalking,' p. 17) on the locking of the 

 horns with the Cervus elaphus. Richardson, in ' Fauna Bor. Americana,' 

 1829, p. 252, says that the wapiti, moose, and reindeer, have been found 

 thus locked together. Sir A. Smith found at the Cape of Good Hope 

 the skeletons of two gnus in the same condition. 



