BRITISH MAMMALS 



have seen him with tusks nearly 30 inches long ; his body not less 

 than 18 feet. When of this size he certainly reminds you of the 

 elephant more than any other living creature. . . . The instinct of 

 attack which characterises the Walrus is interesting to the naturalist, as 

 it is characteristic also of the land animals, the pachyderms, with which 

 he is classed. When wounded he rises high out of the water, plunges 

 heavily against the ice, and strives to raise himself with his fore-flippers upon 

 its surface. As it breaks under his weight, his countenance assumes a 

 still more vindictive expression, his bark changes to a roar, and the 

 foam pours out of his jaws till it froths his beard. Even when not 

 excited he manages his tusks bravely. They are so strong that he uses 

 them to grapple the rocks with, and climbs steeps of ice and land 

 which would be inaccessible to him without their aid. He ascends in 

 this way rocky islands that are sixty and a hundred feet above the level 

 of the sea ; and I have myself seen him in these elevated positions 

 basking with his young in the cool sunshine of August and September." 

 The same author describes their voice as " something between the 

 mooing of a cow and the deepest baying of a mastiff, very round and 

 full, with its bark or detached notes repeated rather quickly seven or 



nine times in succession." 



Around the breathing holes, which are made among much thicker ice 

 than those of the seals, he observed numbers of broken clam-shells, and, 

 in one instance some gravel, mingled with • about half a peck of the 

 coarse shingle of the beach. 



The natural increase of this species is slow, as only a single young 

 one is born at a time, which according to Bell is suckled by the mother 

 for nearly two years, so that a period of three or four seasons ensues 

 between birth of the calves. By the time they are weaned their tusks have 

 grown several inches in length, enabling them to forage for themselves. 



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