384 MR. R. COLLKTT ON THE GREY SEAL. [Mar. 1, 



At this point the young ones begin, as it were, a new stage of their 

 existence. Before the moulting takes place they are very stupid and 

 wanting in shyness, and seldom attempt to escape at the sight of 

 human beings ; but when they have been left to themselves, and 

 have once taken to the water, they become quite as cautious as the 

 old ones. It is the same with those youngj ones which, as before 

 mentioned, take to the water for different reasons ; their presence of 

 mind becomes more rapidly developed than in those which remain 

 quietly on the rocks : although these can sometimes be approached 

 very closely by boats, and even killed by the blow of an oar, they 

 are, as a rule, extremely shy. 



As soon as the young one has been left to its own resources, and 

 to look for its own subsistence, it decreases rapidly in weight, and 

 during the course of the winter often loses all the blubber it has 

 acquired during the first period of its existence. At the same time 

 the rapid growth ceases ; so that in the spring it has only increased 

 a trifle in length, and has hardly acquired any additional weight 

 since the autumn. 



C. Copulation. 



Immediately after the birth of the young one, copulation of the 

 sexes takes place. If the female does not come down into the water 

 of her own accord, the male goes up on the rock and drives her 

 down, as the copulation only takes place in the water, during which 

 they take up the same position as dogs and other four-footed animals. 

 The female, however, is never entirely submerged, the snout being 

 constantly kept above water, as is also the case with the male's 

 head. Copulation apparently takes place several times. 



The Grey Seal lives in a regular state of polygamy, as the strongest 

 male drives all the younger males away, and lives with several 

 females. At the same time the number of females one of the stronger 

 sex can gather together is seldom very considerable, sometimes only 

 two, and very rarely above four or five. This, however, is very 

 difficult to arrive at with any degree of certainty, as the animals are 

 in a constant state of activity during the breeding-time, and both 

 sexes swim about together without passing much time on the land, 

 as is the case with many other Seals. If a breeding-rock be so 

 small that there is only room for two or three females, there is never 

 more than one male to be found ; but on larger rocks, where females 

 and young lie beside one another, there are always several males to 

 be seen, although never in such great numbers as the females. In 

 the autumn of 1874 one of Mr. Borthen's seal-hunters found six 

 young Seals with their respective mothers on a rock with only one 

 male ; this, however, was an unusually large number. 



No mutual fidelity exists between the sexes ; copulation seems to 

 take place indiscriminately, whenever an opportunity presents itself 

 for the male. If a single couple have settled down on a rock they 

 may possibly be faithful to one another for a time, but only until a 

 more powerful male presents himself and drives the other male 

 away. Under such circumstances desperate fights ensue, of which 



