THE GREY SEAL. 39 



casionally much more IVequently. Seeing tiiat it came no closer to tlie land, 

 they changed their position to leeward, which they had no sooner done than its 

 nearer approach was apparent ; and when from one hundred and tii'ty to two 

 hundred yards from the shore, my friend fired at it with a musket cliTirged with 

 a single ball, which, after passing thi-ough its head, was remarked to strike the 

 water forcibly about forty yards further on. Life was not quite extinct when it 

 was rowed up to. When brought ashore milk was extracted from its mammse. 

 This animal was of a uniform whitish grey colour, with darker spots ; it weigh- 

 ed 3 cwt. and 18 lbs., but when in good condition would probably have been 4 

 cwt. On skiiming it two pellets were taken from near the hinder extremity, 

 and a grain of large shot from the head; it had frequently been iired at before, 

 and from superiority of size had ibr many years been a well-known character 

 on the coast, and was distinguished by the name of Old Skull, in consequence 

 of its favourite resort bemg a rock called Skull-Martin. The young one was 

 at least three feet in length, and was estimated to weigh 60 lbs. It was of a 

 canary colour on the back ; the remainder paler, without spot or mark, except 

 the muzzle, which was black ; its hair was long and silky. 



" Major Mathews states that many years since he has seen from two to three 

 hundred seals together on the rocks near Springvale, where they are now scarce, 

 not from having been destroyed, but from the neighbourhood having become so 

 much more populous that the rocks they frequented are daily traversed by per- 

 sons collectmg the edible seaweeds (Bhoclometiia palmata, Forp/iyriavuk/aris), 

 and limpets {Patella vulgaris). They are still very numerous in the rocks a 

 little further southward, where, in the perhaps somewhat exaggerated language 

 of the country, they are said to be seen ' in droves like sheep.' Major Mathews 

 remarks, that when he has fired at seals looking towards him they always dived 

 from the flash of the gun, and that he was only successful in shooting them when 

 their eyes were turned from him. 



" From the description both of the young and adult animals above noticed, I 

 had little doubt that they were your Halichccrus griseus or Gryphus; and as 

 their carcases still lay on the beach where they were skinned at Springvale, 

 about twenty miles distant, I had them brought to Belfast, when, by the aid of 

 your lithographed drawings, my supposition respecting their species was confirm- 

 ed by actual inspection. I presented them to our Natural History Society 

 [Belfast], m whose Museum the skeletons of both are now in part preserved. 

 Here is also a specimen of the Phoca vitulina, which was shot December 28lh, 

 1831, in the river Lagan, at some distance above the Long Bridge at Belfast; 

 the tide, however, flows beyond the place where it was killed. Some years be- 

 fore, a seal was obtained in the same locality, and in a deep pool beneath one of 

 the arches of the bridge just mentioned. Our friend Mr. G. C. Hyndman on 

 one occasion saw two young seals, most probably of the common species." 



Mr. St. John has devoted the 29th chapter of his "Wild Sports and 

 Natural History of the Highlands " to an excellent account of seals and 

 seal -hunting. His observations relative to individual seals being dis- 

 tinguished from each other reminded me of " Old Skull "' of Skull-Mar- 

 tin. He says : — " An old seal has been known to frequent a jiarticular 

 range of stake-nets for many years, escaping all attacks against him, and 

 becoming both so cunning and so im])udcnt that he will actually take the 

 salmon out of the nets (every turn of which he becomes thoroughly in- 

 timate with) before the face of the fishermen, and retiring Avith his ill- 

 gotten booty adds insult to injury by coolly devouring it on some adjoin- 

 ing point of rock or slioal, taking good care, however, to keep out of reach 

 of rifle-ball or slug." And again : — " Scarcely any two seals are exactly 

 of the same colour or marked quite .alike, and seals frequenting a par- 

 ticular part of the coast become easily known and distinguished from 

 each other." 



In October, 1844, during a visit at Twizell House, I was informed bv 



