A GIANT AMONG SEALS 233 



eared seals is shown by their breeding habits, which are 

 in many respects similar. On the Crozet Islands, for 

 example, -where they arrive about the middle of August, 

 the old bulls secure a station for themselves. They do 

 not, however, pass any long period without taking food, 

 neither do they collect " harems " for themselves after the 

 manner of the sea-bears and sea-lions ; the females selecting 

 a station for themselves some distance away. Soon after 

 landing the females give birth to their young, which are at 

 first black, and, although there is some discrepancy between 

 different accounts, it seems probable that both sexes remain 

 with their offspring till the latter are ready to enter the 

 sea, which they usually do when about six or seven weeks 

 old. When they have once taken to a maritime life, the 

 young sea-elephants are said to grow at a prodigious rate ; 

 and, indeed, unless they take many years to attain full 

 maturity, this must necessarily be the case. 



As just indicated, the few accounts that have been given 

 of the breeding habits of these seals by no means accord 

 with one another, and this is the more to be regretted 

 since, owing to the comparative scarcity of the species at 

 the present day, it is very unlikely that an authentic 

 history will ever be given to the world. 



The extermination of this giant seal, so far as it has as 

 yet gone, is a sad story, accompanied as it is by details of 

 revolting and fiendish cruelty. In the eighteenth and the 

 early part of the nineteenth century these seals were met 

 with in thousands on most of their island haunts as well 

 as on the shores of Patagonia, but the ease with which 

 they could be killed, and the value of their hides and oil, 

 soon led to a vast reduction in their numbers ; and in 

 many of their old breeding-places, such as the Falklands, 

 they are either very scarce or are altogether exterminated. 



