160 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



coasts of Britain, or even of France. The first undoubted 

 British example of this species was taken in the River Orwell 

 during the summer of 1847 ; it was a very young animal, and 

 its skin is preserved in the museum at Ipswich. A second 

 young specimen was seen on a rock in the sea at St. Andrews 

 in the summer of 1872, and was killed with stones. Other 

 specimens are more or less vaguely reported to have been taken 

 on the Scottish coasts ; while it is not improbable that a Seal 

 seen many years ago near Westport, in Ireland, belonged to 

 the present species. 



Habits. The Hooded, or, as it is often called, the Bladder- 

 nosed Seal, is especially characterised by its migratory habits, 

 to which allusion has already been made, and the extreme 

 ferocity of its disposition. Not only do the males fight to- 

 gether for the possession of females to add to their harem 

 (this being one of the few species of true Seals which are 

 polygamous), but when attacked on the ice they will boldly face 

 their adversaries, instead of precipitately fleeing, after the 

 general custom of their tribe. On such occasions the sac on 

 the nose is inflated, as if with the purpose of terrifying the 

 assailants. The chief food of this Seal is stated to consist of 

 Cod and Flounders ; and the species spends the greater part 

 of its time on the ice, upon which the young are born in the 

 spring. 



THE WALRUSES. FAMILY TRICHECHID^E. 



The Walruses, of which there is but a single existing genus, 

 differ structurally from the true Seals in that, when on land, 

 the hind-flippers are bent forwards under the body, and aid in 

 terrestrial progression ; this being a feature in which they 

 resemble the Eared Seals (OfaHidat). In the absence of 

 external ears they a^ree, however, with the true Seals. Their 



