18/3.] SEALS OF THE AUCKLAND ISLANDS. 753 



they become grey ; at a year old the grey changes to light brown, 

 and when adult to black or blackish grey. Adult female, or clap- 

 match, grey to silver-grey, at times golden buff; pups black " *. 



Captain ilusgrave notices a periodical migration of the Seals, but 

 not so regular or so complete as that observed elsewhere ; and it 

 would appear that large numbers of them remain all the year round. 

 The bull Seals come into the bays in October (p. 143) or the be- 

 ginning of November (p. 78), at which time they are very fat. 

 During that month and the two following they all pass most of their 

 time on shore, the bulls basking in the sun, while the cows roam 

 about the woods looking for a suitable place to calve in. The females 

 go with young about eleven months, and the young ones are born 

 early in February, always on shore (p. 145); and they have only 

 one calf at a birth. When the cubs are a few days old, the mother 

 sets to work to get them into the water, to which they have the 

 greatest antipathy ; and it is only after long efforts, and much biting, 

 beating, and pushing, that she succeeds : indeed so unwilling are 

 they to go that a cow has been known to spend three days and a 

 half in getting her cub half a mile t. After this the cows assemble 

 in mobs of from twelve to twenty with their cubs, and pass the months 

 of February, March, and April, during which they suckle them, 

 chiefly on shore. There are generally one or two bulls in each mob ; 

 but these leave the bays after the beginning of April. When the 

 cubs are three months old they leave off sucking, and with their 

 mothers keep the water during the day, but come on shore at night 

 to sleep, returning to the water before daylight. They do not choose 

 any particular place for sleeping in, but take shelter anywhere in the 

 bush or in the long grass close to the shore. If not disturbed, a 

 mob will sleep in the same place many nights in succession ; but if 

 disturbed they shift their camp (pp. 48, 147). During June, July, 

 and August they are rarely seen on shore ; and Captain Musgrave 

 dolefully expatiates on the difficulty of getting fresh meat during 

 that season. It does not appear, however, that the cows leave the 

 neighbourhood of the islands ; and at the end of August or begin- 

 ning of September he notes, " the Seals are becoming as numerous 

 as ever" (p. 55). 



From these notices it results that there are two species of Seal on 

 the Aucklands : — 



1. A large black Seal. 



2. A Sea-lion, called Tiger Seal, because some of the females are 

 spotted. Their general colour is a yellowish grey, varying in indi- 

 vidual specimens from grey to buff, the males, especially the old 

 males, being the darkest (pp. 29, 143). 



Further, we learn from the French narrative that the Seal they 

 caught was a Hair-Seal ; and the same result is arrived at by im- 



* Mammalia, recent and extinct : an Elementary Treatise for the Use of the 

 Public Schools of New South Wales, p. 15. By A. W. Scott, M.A. Sydney, 

 1873. 



t Seals were seen teaching their young to swim off Cape Horn by Capt. King 

 (Voyage of ' Adventure ' and ' Beagle,' i. p. 422). 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1873, No. XLVIII. 48 



