Mr. Selby on the Great Seal.of the Farn Islands. 465 
for two or three minutes, during which they make great pro- 
gress, and re-appear many gunshots distant from the place 
where they went down, and they seem to delight and sport 
in the rapid and heavy currents which exist among the Islands. 
They show great curiosity in gazing at anything strange, and 
will remain stationary for minutes together, with the head and 
neck out of the water, staring at a boatman or any other ob- 
ject that attracts their attention. This curiosity, in parts where 
they were not often disturbed, procured me frequent shots with 
the rifle; for when I observed them basking upon the rocks, 
twenty or thirty in a herd, during the ebb of tide, I used to 
land at some distance and make all haste to the point where 
they were assembled ; and though I might not get within shot 
before they took to the sea, I was sure of some of them re-ap- 
pearing quite within distance after their first plunge into the 
water. In this way I have killed several, but never had the 
good luck to secure the carcass ; for even though some of them 
floated a short time after death, which, however, is rarely the 
case, they were certain to be swept away and buried in the 
heavy stream which runs past the point I have mentioned, 
and where the Seals were generally assembled, before the boat 
could come round and reach them, I recollect on one of my 
visits killing a large animal in a quiet bay, by a shot through 
the neck, which, after a few struggles upon the surface, and 
tinging the water with its blood, began to sink, and before we 
could reach the spot with the boat, had descended just beyond 
the reach of our oars ; and we had the chagrin of seeing it set- 
tle quietly down to a depth of about thirty feet into a forest 
of sea-weed below, without any tackling or apparatus in the 
boat wherewith to raise it to the surface. 
The Great Seal seldom wanders to any great distance from 
the Farn Islands, as it is only seen occasionally as far north 
as Berwick Bay, and off Dunstanborough and Coquet Island 
to the south. It also seems jealous of the presence of any 
other species within its peculiar precincts, as the Common 
Seal, Phoca vitulina, is scarcely ever seen within its territory, 
though small herds frequent the coast of the main land nearly 
opposite, upon the bar of Budle Bay, and at Holy Island. 
This species used formerly to be very abundant at the latter 
place, but fire-arms and other modes of destruction have 
greatly reduced its numbers and driven it from its former 
haunts. This species produces its young in the month of 
August. 
I have never met with any other species of Seal upon this 
coast, nor have I heard of any other having been observed. 
Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Vol. vi. 2H 
