228 NATURAL HISTORY. 



pass their time, often lying huddled in a drowsy condition. At high tides, night and clay, 

 they take to fishing near the entrance of fresh- water rivulets into the sea, at such times remaining for 

 a ,whole tide dabbling after fish and crustaceans. In capturing their prey, they swallow it above or 

 below the water. The animal at the Zoological Gardens, as a rule, came to the surface to swallow, but 

 the other Seals more often did so underneath. This Otaria, Lecomte affirms, never drinks water, that 

 which he first brought to England not receiving fluid for a year, but he had seen the Common Seals 

 suck water like a Horse. He certified to the fact of their pebble swallowing propensities. The general 

 habits of this animal are but a repetition of what has been said of other species, and need not detain 

 us. The greater number migrate towards the south from July till November, between these months 

 remaining in the neighbourhood of the Falklands. The young are of a deep chocolate colour, when a 

 year old becoming paler, the females being nearly grey, the old male of a rich brown hue, the flippers 

 in all being darker. There is a sparse under- wool in the young, which sensibly diminishes with age. 



Captain Cook says he met with immense males, twelve or fourteen feet in length, and eight or ten 

 in circumference. Such big customers now no longer exist, though the truth of what the circum- 

 navigator asserts would seem to be substantiated by the fact of skulls of enormous size being found 

 hither and thither, weather-worn, on the beach. These exhibit the remarkable peculiarity of prodigious 

 crests, so that they have been compared with the characteristic change shown in the Gorilla, to which 

 allusion has already been made (Vol. I., p. 17). 



THE FALKLAND ISLAND FUR SEAL.* The head - quarters for the capture of this valuable 

 species of commercial Fur Seal are the Falkland Isles, and the South Shetlands within the 

 Antarctic Circle, but it is also found on the coast of South America, namely, around Pata- 

 gonia, Cape Horn, and the islands bordering Chili. It doubtless also betakes itself to several 

 of the small southern oceanic islets, such as the New Orkneys, South Georgia, and indeed very 

 possibly migrates to the ice-bound areas surrounding the Southern Pole. Captain Abbott, who 

 was formerly resident on the Falklands, says that Seal skins and Seal oil are two of the principal 

 products of these islands. The boats employed in collecting these articles " are usually from twenty to 

 thirty tons in measurement, and are manned by four or five men. They are sent out laden 

 with provisions, casks for the oil, and salt for preserving the Seal skins; they are frequently out 

 for months together, cruising about the islands, and seldom return without a full cargo." The favourite 

 locality of this valuable Fur Seal at the Falklands is the Volunteer Rocks at the northern entrance to 

 Berkeley Sound, these rocks, owing to the heavy swell, being inaccessible except in fine "weather and 

 after many days' calm. The truth is the hunters have driven these animals nearly away from then- 

 old quarters, the few that still remain being excessively shy. The best, almost classical account of the 

 habits of this species, is that of Captain Weddell, in his " Voyage towards the South Pole," between 

 1818-1821. When he visited the South Shetlands, so little did they apprehend danger from man, 

 that they lay quietly by while their neighbours were being killed and skinned. But, as he says, 

 they soon acquired habits for counteracting danger, by placing themselves on rocks whence they 

 precipitated themselves into the water. Their agility is very great, outstripping men running fast in 

 pursuit. The absurd story of their throwing stones at their pursuers with their tails, Weddell accounts 

 for by their awkward trailing gait, and in an attempt to scamper, scattering rocky fragments hither and 

 thither behind them. He mentions their exceeding disproportion of size, the males, as in other species, 

 being the more bulky, the latter being six to seven feet long, the females seldom more than four feet, 

 and often less. He computed the females at about twenty to one male. They assemble gregariously 

 on the coasts at different periods and in distinct classes. Like the Northern Fur Seals, the males 

 separate and go ashore in November, where they await the arrival of the females. By December these 

 latter begin to land, and the seraglio and system of battle resemble what has been described in the Fur 

 Seal of the Pribyloff Islands. The period of gestation is about a twelvemonth, probably less, and 

 the young are born in December. . By the middle of February these latter, said to be taught to swim 

 by their mothers, take to the water. At first they are black, a few weeks later become grey, and after- 

 wards, as they frequent the sea, moult and acquire their peculiar furry coats. What the mariners call Dog 

 Seals, that is, those a couple of years old, land in crowds as February terminates and March goes on. 

 But by the end of April they once more make for the water, and scarcely land again until June wanes, 

 * Otaria falklandica, placed under the genus Arctophoca by Peters, and Euotaria by Gray. 



