SEALS. 485 



forty individuals were killed at one village; and, to crown all, 

 Herr Radde brouglit home with him a specimen from it, and no 

 specific differences can be discovered between it and Phoca annel- 

 lata. The only difference is, that it is of a uniform grey colour, 

 instead of being more or less spotted. This variation, however, 

 is also found in specimens from the North Atlantic." 



All seals show a partiality for basking in the sunshine, and for 

 this purpose frequently crawl to the shore, where, on a sand- 

 bar, rock, or ice, according to the season, the species, or the 

 locality, they will quietly lie by the hour. Mr. McNeill, who 

 furnished Mr. James Wilson with a considerable portion of the 

 information he published in an article on the common seal, says 

 that he observed these seals always selected the flattest and most 

 shelving rocks which have been covered with water at full tide, 

 and almost invariably those that are separated from the mainland. 

 " They generally go ashore about half-ebb, and lie together so 

 close as to appear almost touching, to the number sometimes of 

 one, two, or three dozen, with their heads invariably turned 

 towards the water, and seldom more than a yard or two from it. 

 Like many other animals, however, they place one of their number 

 a. little further up the rock, who seems constantly on the watch, 

 and is every now and then raising his head to snufi" the wind. In 

 this position they frequently go to sleep with their head, I may 

 say, hanging towards the water." 



Seals are very voracious. They feed chiefly on fishes, but in part 

 on crustaceans and mollusks. A curious and remarkable fact 

 about the Phocid^ is, that they all swallow quantities of small 

 pebbles. One of the large species of these creatures was found 

 to contain twenty pounds' weight of them; some of the stones 

 individually weighed nearly half a pound. The object of this 

 habit is still a matter of conjecture. Sailors believe these stones 

 serve as ballast, and assert that they are swallowed to enable the 

 animal to sink in the water. Some naturalists seem to agree with 

 this opinion, and one traveller asserts that he himself saw a female 

 instructing her cub in the art of swallowing a proper quantity. 

 It is also affirmed that a larger number are swallowed when the 

 animals are fat than when they are lean, for at this period they 



