188 DR R. N. RUDMOSE BROWN ON 



The Discovery in winter- quarters in 77 50' S. was some ten miles from the open 

 water, and yet Weddell Seals were present all winter in such numbers that Dr E. A. 

 Wilson did not look upon them as migratory. In that latitude blowholes are far more 

 numerous than holes by which the seals leave and enter the water, and Dr Wilson 

 ascribed this to the reluctance of the seal to face the low temperatures and darkness of 

 winter : the sea is certainly much warmer. Mr James Murray, of the Nimrod, says the 

 Weddell, which was the only common seal at Cape Royds, stayed in winter, though 

 several weeks might pass without one being seen. At the South Orkneys the Weddell 

 Seals only emerged on to the floe during calm, sunny days : in windy weather they were 

 seldom to be seen unless under the lee of a hummock. It must be remembered that 

 in the latitude of the South Orkneys, 60 43' S., there is no continuous night in mid- 

 winter, and this may account for the appearance of this seal being more frequent in 

 winter than it is further south. 



The Weddell Seal, like the Lobodon, is a true Antarctic species, but there are records 

 of stragglers to subantarctic lands and even beyond. The large herds of Sea-leopards 

 which the Challenger heard of at Kerguelen were possibly herds of Weddell Seals.* 

 But authentic specimens have been observed at Santa Cruz in Patagonia, Heard 

 Island, Kerguelen, and even New Zealand. 



The Weddell is the most lethargic of all the Antarctic seals. After a good meal 

 they come up through the seal-holes on to the floe to lie asleep for hours. On sunny 

 and calm days especially are they to be seen. They sleep on their sides or almost on 

 their backs, every now and then giving a scratch with the uppermost fore-flipper. 

 When disturbed, they look at the aggressor with a sleepy stare and appear to take very 

 little interest in him, and in a few moments lazily drop to sleep again. It requires 

 somewhat drastic treatment to awake a Weddell sufficiently to make him move away, 

 and even then his movements are far from energetic. One can sit down on a Weddell 

 Seal and only cause him to open his eyes and blink : then once more he falls asleep, 

 unalarmed. Not only is the animal of a naturally slothful disposition (except at the 

 pupping season), but he has never learned to fear man in the seclusion of his polar 

 wastes, and he has no natural enemies on the land or ice. This fearlessness applies 

 equally to other Antarctic seals, and birds. So tame and lethargic is the Weddell 

 Seal that ammunition was never expended on one when it was desired to secure a 

 specimen : they were always stabbed with a long knife. 



At the end of August these seals returned to the South Orkneys, and large numbers 

 of females then collected at the rookeries. For the previous month or two no females 

 had been seen, only males. The females had probably been away feeding in prepara- 

 tion for their long period of starvation. The rookeries are on the floe near to land, and 

 though they may be some little distance from the open sea when the young are born, 

 the breaking up of the floes generally puts them in near proximity to the water by the 

 time that the young are able to swim. On the other hand, the nearness of the rookeries 



* Notes of a Naturalist on the " Challenger," H. N. Moseley, London, 1892, p. 174. 



