292 EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS PUBLICATIONS. 



EXTRACT FROM PRODROMUS OF THE ZOOLOGY OF VICTORIA, 

 DECADE VIII, BY SIR FREDERICK McCOY. 



Having told my friends, Trooper Ardill and the sealer Ross, that I 

 should like to have their observations on the creature in writing for 

 publication, the former furnished me with the following interesting 

 account, which I give in his own words, conveying Eoss's observations 

 and his own : 



Oowes Police Station, 12th March, 1880. 



In reply to your enquiries relative to the seals which frequent the 

 seal rocks off Phillip Island : The seals come to the rocks about 1st 

 October. The time of bringing forth the pups is between 10th Novem- 

 ber and 10th December. They do not commence to breed until they 

 are three years old. The male (or bull) during the pupping season will 

 ascend the rocks and stop for one or two months without food, and is 

 extremely attentive to the female (or cow) and pups. When the females 

 fight and quarrel he restores order. The bull is very fat in the begin- 

 ning of the season, and yields from five to ten gallons of oil, and in 

 three weeks after will hardly yield one gallon, the yield, of course, de- 

 pending on the age and size of the bull. The cows are seldom killed, 

 as they have very little lat. It is against the rule of sealers to kill a cow 

 or the pups. 



They live on fish of various kinds. I have found the backbones of 

 fish 2 feet in length. They eat leather -jackets, parrot fish, squid, etc. 

 I found one backbone 2 feet 4 inches long; it may have been a barra- 

 cuta or pike; I don't think it was a shark. I have found a few joints 

 of a shark's backbone. 



The bull is very furious at pupping season, and when disturbed will 

 go into the water and return in a few minutes. Out of season they go 

 to sea in the morning and return at night. When fighting they strike 

 each other like the boar. Their teeth are about 1£ inches long and cut 

 terribly. I have seen cuts from 1 to 10 inches in length. 



The usual color is a yellowish brown, although some have been seen 

 that were spotted, and some a beautiful grey. 1 



They generally select flat, inaccessible rocks, or, where they are not 

 disturbed, they select the grassy patches. 



The cow generally brings forth one pup; sometimes two. They keep 

 good watch and care affectionately for their offspring. They circle 

 round them in rough, stormy weather, and keep them from any wash 

 or sea that may come over the rocks. I have seen three pups washed 

 off the rocks and the cows have immediately followed and brought 

 them on the rocks again in an astonishingly rapid manner. I have 

 also seen them catch a pup in their mouth and throw them 10 feet high 

 and never hurt them. 



The bull's voice or noise is guttural, and when angry sounds some- 

 thing like "oough, oough." The noise is much heavier than any ani- 

 mal I know. When trying to pacify the cows it sounds like "yah, 

 yah," said quick and short. The noise of the cow is very much like a 

 cow of the bovine species. The pup bleats like a lamb. 



Their sight is not so good, so it is generally said. I think myself 

 their sight good enough, but they not smelling man don't think he will 

 harm them; when they get the least scent they are off like a shot. 



During the pupping season they keep up an incessant noise during 

 the night and generally keep quiet during the day. They look clumsy 



•This is the variety figured iu Decade lv, Plate 31. 



