154 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE,

the whole space is occupied. Frequently a struggle ensues
between two males for the possession of the same female,
and both seizing her at once, pull her in two, or terribly
lacerate her with their teeth. When the space is all filled,
the old male walks around complacently reviewing his family,
scolding those who crowd or disturb the others, and fiercely
driving off all intruders. This surveillance always keeps him
actively occupied.” After the birth of their young which
takes place towards the end of July, the old males who have
been four months without food, go to some distance from
the shore to feed, teaching the young to swim on their
return, “By the last of October the seals begin to leave the
islands in small companies. The males going last and by
themselves.”

The Walrus. The Walrus (Zrichechus rosmarus) is a large and
unwieldy creature. It bears a stronger resemblance to the
seal than to any other quadruped, but it is distinguished by
the proportions of its body and its elephant-like tusks. Vast
herds formerly frequented the shores of the islands scattered
between America and Asia, the coasts of Davis’s Straits and
those of Hudson’s Bay. They have been found as far south
as the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Now
they are not met with in great numbers, except on the shores
of Spitzbergen and the remotest northern borders of America.
They attain to a very large size. The head is oval, short,
small, and fiat in front, having the eyes set in deep sockets
so ag to be moved forwards, or retracted at pleasure. On
land the Walrus is a slow and clumsy animal, but in the
water its motions are sufficiently quick and easy. When
attacked, the Walrus is both fierce and formidable, and ifin
company with its young, becomes very furious, attempting to
destroy its enemies by rising and hooking its tusks over
the sides of the boat, in order to sink it.

Captain Cook thus describes a herd of walruses he met
with off the north coast of America. He says: “They lie