AMPHIBIOUS QUADRUPEDS. 265 



garious animals ; and, if an enemy appear, in- 

 stantly plunge all together into the water. In fine 

 weather they more usually employ their time in 

 fishing, and generally come on shore in tempests 

 and storms. The seal seems the only animal that 

 takes delight in these tremendous conflicts of 

 nature. In the midst of thunders and torrents, 

 when every other creature takes refuge from the 

 fury of the elements, the seals are seen by thou- 

 sands sporting along the shore, and delighted 

 with the universal disorder. This, however, may 

 arise from the sea being at that time too turbu- 

 lent for them to reside in ; and they may then par- 

 ticularly come upon land, when unable to resist 

 the shock of their more usual element. 



As seals are gregarious, so they are also ani- 

 mals of passage, and perhaps the only quadrupeds 

 that migrate from one part of the world to ano- 

 ther. The generality of quadrupeds are content- 

 ed with their native plains and forests, and seldom 

 stray, except when necessity or fear impels them. 

 But seals change their habitation, and are seen 

 in vast multitudes directing their course from 

 one continent to another.* On the northern 

 coasts of Greenland, they are seen to retire in 

 July, and to return again in September. This 

 time, it is supposed, they go in pursuit of food. 

 But they make a second departure in March to 

 cast their young, and return in the beginning of 

 June, young and all, in a great body together, 

 observing in their route a certain fixed time and 



* Crantz, vol.i. p. 129. 



