R. LOFTHOUSE : THE RIVER TEES. 



7 



Of recent occurrences of Seals in the Tees, I have the following 

 records made by myself, and previously I can remember many being 

 exhibited at Middlesbrough by fishermen and others : — One shot in 

 Billingham Creek on Christmas Day, 1880 ; this Seal was 3 ft. 4 in. 

 long, and, of course, immature. In the same winter one was shot at 

 Redcar, and another was seen on the rocks at Redcar previous to this, 

 date not noted. On the 24th August, 1881, a local newspaper reported 

 that 'a school of Seals were discovered in the cut at the Middlesbrough 

 Dock entrance. One of the animals made its way into the dock. 

 Efforts were made to capture it, but without success. It is supposed 

 they had chased a number of Salmon up the river.' I afterwards 

 conversed with two persons who saw these Seals ; they both put the 

 number at two. It w^as in the afternoon of the day named 

 when they were seen ; they were pursued by boats, and dived when- 

 ever the boats came near them ; they were eventually lost some 

 distance down the river. At the beginning of the following November 

 a large Seal was observed for several days to frequent the beach 

 opposite the ironworks at Eston, a place noted for Eels, to which 

 Seals are said to be very partial. It was observed through a glass 

 from Eston Jetty. About the 15th of January, 1883, one was seen 

 in the Tees, and shot at several times. At the beginning of the 

 following February, one was captured in the Tees, opposite Eston 

 Jetty, measuring 3 ft. in length. On the 28th of July in the same 

 year, one was exhibited alive in the Middlesbrough Market, which 

 had been taken in the river. In 1884, I have been informed, one 

 was seen and shot at several times on the Durham side of the Tees' 

 mouth; this was in the autumn, and on October. 25th, 1885, a Seal 

 was captured in the Tees near Eston Jetty; this was a young female; 

 it was pursued for some distance, and was at last shot. This I 

 examined; it was 3 ft. 10 in. long, and beautifully mottled on the 

 back with black and yellowish-white. It was reported there was 

 another seen at the same time. One was caught on the rocks at 

 Hartlepool on January 4th, 1886 ; it was left in a pool by the tide, 

 and attracted some men by its call; it was a young female, and about 

 3 ft. 3 in. long. 



It is probable that the Grey Seal {Phoca gryphus)^ as well as 

 the Common Seal, occurred in limited numbers in the Tees. Graves, 

 in his ' History of Cleveland,' pubHshed in 1808, and before referred 

 to, mentions the Great Seal or Sea Calf (of Pennant's Zoology, 36). 

 I have seen a very large skull which was dredged from the Tees, and 

 was probably referable to this animal. One is reported to have been 

 found alive at Seaton Snook in the year 187 1, as mentioned in 

 Clarke and Roebuck's 'Vertebrate Fauna'; and in the Report on the 



Jan. 1887. ^ . . 



