1 3 ° 
CARNIVORES. 
Food. 
wounded comrade. When one of the herd is wounded, all its fellows are stated to 
combine together for its defence; and on such occasions the aspect of the animals 
is described as absolutely terrific. Either through confidence in their size and 
power, or from want of appreciation of danger, walruses when on shore or on the 
ice can often be approached very closely, and may thus be easily dispatched; they 
learn, however, greater caution with experience. In other cases they seem to be 
more vigilant on all occasions, having a certain number of their body acting as 
sentinels. In hunting them the great object is to cut off their retreat to the 
water, as if they once gain the open sea they generally escape. The number of 
walruses formerly found on the ice-floes of Spitzbergen was so great, and so thickly 
were the creatures crowded together, that an eye-witness wrote of them as pre¬ 
senting the appearance of solid islands of animals. 
The walrus feeds chiefly upon thick-shelled bivalve molluscs, 
especially those commonly known as gapers. For crushing the shells 
of these molluscs the stunted and short cheek-teeth of the walrus are admirably 
adapted; but it appears that, after being broken, the shells themselves are rejected, 
and only the soft portions of the molluscs swallowed. This molluscan diet is also 
supplemented by fish and various crustaceans; while in addition to these, large 
quantities of sea-weed are also swallowed, although it is quite probable that their 
introduction into the creature’s mouth is not intentional. It appears to be now 
ascertained beyond doubt that the chief use of the tusks of the walrus is to dig in 
the mud and ooze for the purpose of raking up the molluscs, on which it feeds so 
largely. Dr. R. Brown states, however, that he has seen walruses employ their 
tusks to aid in dragging their unwieldy bodies on to the ice, and also to aid their 
clumsy progress when on land. These observations are fully confirmed by Dr. 
Kane, who states that he has known walruses in this manner drag themselves on 
rocky islands to heights of sixty or a hundred feet above the level of the water. 
The walrus is killed when on land or ice either by means of long 
lances, or with rifles; while when at sea it is chased with special 
boats and harpooned. Allusion has already been made to the enormous numbers 
of these animals killed in the Magdalen Islands, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; but one more instance of an enormous de¬ 
struction of these animals may be referred to in greater detail. This occurred in 
the summer of 1852, on Thousand Island, lying off the south-west coast of Spitz¬ 
bergen. Here, writes the narrator, Mr. Lamont, “two small sloops, sailing in 
company, approached the island, and soon discovered a herd of walruses, number¬ 
ing, as they calculated, from three to four thousand, reposing upon it. Four boats’ 
crews, or sixteen men, proceeded to the attack with spears. One great mass of 
walruses lay in a small sandy bay, with rocks inclosing it on each side, and on a 
little mossy flat above the bay, but to which the bay formed the only convenient 
access for such unwieldy animals. A great many hundreds lay on other parts of 
the island at a little distance. The boats landed a little way off, so as not to 
frighten them, and the sixteen men, creeping along shore, got between the sea and 
the bay, full of walruses before mentioned, and immediately commenced stabbing 
the animals next them. The walrus, although so active and fierce in the water, is 
very unwieldy and helpless on shore, and those in front soon succumbed to the 
Hunting. 
