THE WALRUS IN BRITISH WATERS 79 
The normal length of a full-grown Walrus ranges from 
about 12 to 16 feet or more. It is therefore apparent that 
the Scottish examples include full-grown individuals, though 
the variation in size scarcely favours a theory that suggests 
itself, namely, that their isolated appearance is on a par 
with that of the bull Sperm Whales which alone are captured 
from Scottish whaling stations, the result of a temperamental 
wandering of certain aged individuals from the parent colony. 
Such a theory is quite overthrown by a valuable observation 
made by Professor Heddle, who himself told Harvie-Brown 
that in 1849 or 1850 he had seen, off the coast of the parish 
of Walls in Orkney, an adult Walrus and a young one 
(Proc. Nat. Hest. Soc. Glasgow, vol. iv., 1881, p. 97). 
In view of these facts, the only conclusion to be drawn 
from the size and approximate ages of the Walruses 
which have reached Britain is that the individuals form a 
heterogeneous unconnected series, and that therefore they 
can only be regarded as isolated waifs which chance 
conditions have cast adrift from the parental herds in the 
far north. 
Season of Appearance in British Waters.—In this respect, 
also, facts are scanty but significant. In Shetland three 
Walruses have been seen in “summer” (1815 (two) and 
1828), and one, first noticed in July, was still present in 
mid-October (1920). In Orkney one appeared in the 
beginning of June (1825) and one in “autumn.” The 
Hebridean records include occurrences in the “end of 
December” (1817) and April (1341); while the Skye 
individual of 1877 is thought to have been seen off 
Eigg in the autumn of the same year (Harvie-Brown and 
Macpherson’s Worth-West Highlands, 1904, p. 25). The 
remaining records from the British Isles are placed in 
June or July in the Severn (1839), and in summer in the 
Shannon (1897). 
In short, of eleven Walruses the times of appearance of 
which in British waters are known, one was a spring visitor, 
_seven appeared in summer, two in autumn, and one was seen 
in winter. Summer is predominantly the season of visitation, 
and it may be that it is even more markedly so than our 
