GREY SEAL. 267 



we find a curious discrepancy as to the time of breeding. 

 On the coast of Sweden this is stated by Nilssoii and 

 others to be in February, whereas all British observers 

 concur in stating that it is in October or November. 

 It seems possible that the explanation may be that the 

 milder climate of Britain permits of pairing taking 

 place much earlier than in Scandinavia. 



As might be expected from the comparatively small 

 size of the brain, the Grey Seal is very inferior in 

 intelligence and docility to the species we have already 

 treated of. Mr. Ball says it seems scarcely susceptible 

 of domestication, his father made several attempts to 

 rear and tame it, but in vain ; and Mr. Bartlett informs 

 us that the one now in the Zoological Society's Gardens 

 is both greedy and savage. 



We have already pointed out the principal characters 

 of this species. In colour it varies so much that it is 

 difficult to give any definite description ; to quote the 

 words of Mr. Ball : " The changes of colour from age, 

 season, sex, &c., of our Halich&rus seem so various as to 

 offer no guide to a determination of species. In the 

 many specimens I have seen I do not recollect that any 

 two were precisely similar. The very young females are 

 generally of a dull yellowish-white, with rather long 

 hair, which falls off in about six weeks after birth, and 

 gives place to a shorter and more shining coat of a 

 warm dingy yellow, variously blotched with blackish- 

 grey, the whole gradually becoming more dull, the 

 blotching more indistinct, and a general dark shade 

 spreading over the back, as the animal advances in age." 

 Owing to the flattened and recurved character of the 

 hair, the animal when dry appears uniform silvery-grey 

 when seen from before, and of a sooty brown when 

 viewed in an opposite direction, the blotches being only 



