8 SEALS OF THE SHETLAND ISLANDS. 



tains full growth. A strong odour, precisely similar to that 

 of coal-tar, is emitted, especially from the skin, but it per- 

 vades the whole body of this species : it is most powerful in 

 the male. This does not exist in the vitulina. They are much 

 less frequently and regularly seen on land than the small seal, 

 and are more indifferent as to the time of tide or the wind 

 being off shore. The chief season is summer, and rocks the 

 wildest and most exposed are their favourite haunts. They 

 equally with the other species attach to particular lairs. A 

 common place of repose is on the bottom. An individual may 

 often be seen in some remote creek, raising his head for a few 

 seconds above water, and repeating this every eight or ten 

 minutes on the same spot. He can be seen from above sink- 

 ing to the bottom, where he is alternately resting and rolling 

 on his back — hence, perhaps, arises the appearance so fre- 

 quently noticed of the hair being rubbed off this part of the 

 body. They delight in swimming near the rocks during a 

 heavy surf, remaining fixed on a spot, treading the water or 

 standing, as the fishermen term it, where the surge impelled 

 on the rock, and the reflux wave meeting, produce a sort of 

 equilibrium. The vihdina in general shuns boisterous seas. 

 Now and then a barbata is met with in a sheltered inhabited 

 bay, but this circumstance is always the harbinger of a storm. 

 On such occasions they are observed to hold their snouts 

 elevated as if snuffing the air, and appear listless and stupid : 

 — this meteorological habit they have in common with the 

 other species. A solitary female is not unfrequently seen 

 associating with a herd of small seals, and taking her siesta 

 along with them, — but the male is rarely present on these 

 occasions, and I have never seen an instance of the small 

 seal intruding on the Haff'-fish haunts. Their favourite 

 food is halibot, conger, ling, lump-fish, and toad-fish— 

 perhaps, because these are more easily caught; and the Great 



