URSINE SEAL. 
^67 
rest, and is sometimes so numerous as to amount 
to above an hundred. The old animals which 
have been deserted by the females^ are said to live 
apart, and are most excessively splenetic and 
quarrelsome. They are extremely fierce^ and 
enormously fat. It sometimes happens that they 
approach or intrude upon each other's station, in 
which case a battle ensues between the two indi- 
viduals ; and they^ in the conflict, disturb the re- 
pose of some of their neighbours, till in the end 
the discord becomes universal, and is in a manner 
spread through the whole shore. Exclusive of 
the contests between these solitary males, similar 
disagreements take place between those who live 
in a more social state ; either from invading each 
others seats, endeavouring to allure the females,* 
or interfering in the disputes of their neighbours. 
These conflicts are very violent^ and the wounds 
they receive are very deep, and resemble the cuts 
of a sabre. At the end of the fray they fling 
themselves into the sea to wash away the blood. 
They shew a great attachment to their young, 
and shew all the signs of the deepest concern on 
losing them. 
The Ursine Seal is an inhabitant of the islands 
in the neighbourhood of Kamstchatka. In these 
islands they are seen from June to September, 
during which time they breed and educate their 
young. In September they are said to quit their 
stations, and to return, some to the Asiatic, and 
some to the American shore; but are generally 
confined to a space in those seas between lat 5Q 
