THE
SEALS AND WHALES
OF THE
BRITISH SEAS.
BY
THOMAS SOUTHWELL, F.Z.S.
_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS._
London:
JARROLD AND SONS, 3, PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS.
[_All Rights Reserved._]
1881.
INTRODUCTION.
SEALS AND WHALES OF THE BRITISH SEAS.
Although at no period entirely neglected, as is apparent from the
frequent reference to the subject by old authors, and from the known
richness in species of the British Fauna, compared with that of the
Continent of Europe, the study of the Marine Mammalia of the British
Seas has, of late years, received more than usual attention, and the
advance made in the knowledge of these creatures, has been rapid
in proportion. Nor is it surprising that, to the inhabitants of a
densely-peopled country like the British Isles, the terrestrial fauna
of which must, of necessity, be very restricted and familiar, the study
of the mammals frequenting its seas and shores should be possessed of a
peculiar charm. The uncertainty and rarity of their occurrence, their
exceptional forms, the mystery which shrouds their origin, heightened
by the romance which surrounds the seas and high latitudes forming the
chief home of so many species, must always render them objects of the
greatest interest. Not only is this the case on the coast, but even in
inland districts, whither--notably to London and Birmingham--Cetaceans
have been brought, both living and dead, at great expense, and from
long distances, to gratify the growing interest which has manifested
itself, in these remarkable animals.
Under these circumstances it is surprising that no modern book,
especially devoted to this subject, exists; those who would inform
themselves must search out the scattered records dispersed in the
publications of numerous Scientific Societies, or procure works, which,
excellent as they may be, are much more comprehensive in scope, and
too expensive to be within the reach of many into whose hands it is
hoped this little book may come: the author has, therefore, striven to
supply what is certainly a desideratum, viz., a cheap, plain, but, he
hopes, trustworthy treatise on the Marine Mammalia of the British Seas.
Originally published in the form of a series of papers in the pages of
_Science Gossip_, the following account of the “Seals and Whales found
in the British Seas” has been brought down to the present time, and
much new matter added, not the least important of which is that devoted
to the claims of the Atlantic Right-Whale to a place in the British
fauna.
Doubtless, rare specimens are often lost to science for want of
identification, and all those interested in their study have
experienced the frequent disappointment which attends the bare
announcement of “a Whale on shore:” in many instances no attempt is
made to determine the species, in others it is evidently wrongly-named,
or, although perhaps a more or less elaborate description may be given,
not a single feature is indicated by which it may be identified.
One special object in reproducing these pages is to assist, by means
of the most accurate figures which could be obtained, and short
descriptions of the more important characters to be observed in each
species, in determining those specimens which, from time to time, are
landed by our fishermen, or cast dead upon the shore. Elaborate or
technical descriptions have been carefully avoided, but short accounts
of the habits and distribution, so far as known, of each species have
been given, with the hope of interesting others in the study of this,
even now, too-much-neglected branch of Natural History.
To the more advanced student the numerous references may be useful for
indicating the sources whence detailed information of a more technical
character is to be obtained.
The usefulness of this little manual, which pretends to no originality,
but in the compilation of which no labour has been spared to insure
accuracy, will, it is hoped, be greatly enhanced by the Illustrations;
they were either engraved from original drawings, or copied from the
most trustworthy sources (indicated in the text); several of them have
since been adopted by the latest publications on the subject, both in
England and America. For the use of 20 of the illustrations, out of a
total of 29, the author is indebted to the kindness of Mr. David Bogue,
who obligingly lent the blocks originally engraved for the papers in
_Science Gossip_.
The author has to acknowledge, with many thanks, the kind assistance
afforded him by MR. J. W. CLARK, Superintendent of the Museum of the
University of Cambridge, and a recognized authority on the _Cetacea_
and _Pinnipedia_. He, also, has to record the services, in behalf of
this little work, rendered by one, who, beloved and lamented by many
friends, has passed away since it has been in the press--the late MR.
EDWARD RICHARD ALSTON. The wound inflicted by the early death of that
amiable and promising naturalist is too fresh to admit of further
reference.
_Norwich, March 1881._
INDEX.
PAGE.
Atlantic Right-Whale, 61
_Balæna biscayensis_, 61
” _mysticetus_, 49
_Balænoptera boops_, 70
” _borealis_ (Note), 128
” _laticeps_, 77
” _musculus_, 70
” _rostrata_, 78
” _sibbaldii_, 75
Beaked Whale, 101
Beluga ”, 108
Bottle-head ”, 101
Bottle-nose Dolphin, 124
Broad-fronted Beaked Whale, 101
Cachelot, 85
Cetacea, 44
Cuvier’s Whale, 102
_Cystophora cristata_, 24
_Delphinapterus leucas_, 108
_Delphinus acutus_, 125
” _albirostris_, 125
” _deductor_, 118
” _delphis_, 121
” _globiceps_, 118
” _melas_, 118
” _phocœna_, 120
” _tursio_, 124
Dolphin, Bottle-nosed, 124
” Common, 121
” Risso’s, 115
” White-beaked, 125
” White-sided, 125
_Epiodon desmarestii_, 102
_Globicephalus melas_, 118
Grampus, Common, 113
” Risso’s, 115
_Grampus cuvieri_, 115
” _griseus_, 115
Greenland Right-Whale, 49
_Halichœrus gryphus_, 28
Hump-backed Whale, 69
_Hyperoodon butzkopf_, 101
” _latifrons_, 101
” _rostratum_, 101
_Lagenorhynchus acutus_, 125
” _albirostris_, 125
_Megaptera longimana_, 69
_Mesoplodon sowerbiensis_, 105
_Monodon monoceros_, 106
Mystacoceti, 49
Narwhal, 106
Odontoceti, 85
_Orca gladiator_, 113
_Phoca baikalensis_, 17
” _discolor_, 17
” _grœnlandica_, 21
” _hispida_, 14
” _vitulina_, 11
_Phocœna communis_, 120
_Physalus antiquorum_, 70
” _latirostris_, 75
_Physeter macrocephalus_, 85
Pilot Whale, 118
Pinnipedia, 2
Porpoise, 120
_Pseudorca crassidens_, 114
Risso’s Grampus, 115
Rorqual, Common, 70
” Lesser, 78
” Rudolphi’s, 77
” ” (Note), 128
” Sibbald’s, 75
_Rorqualus minor_, 78
Seal, Common, 11
” Greenland, 21
” Grey, 28
” Hooded, or Bladder-nosed, 24
” Ringed, or Marbled, 14
_Sibbaldius borealis_, 75
Sowerby’s Whale, 105
Sperm Whale, 85
_Trichechus rosmarus_, 32
_Tursio truncatus_, 124
Walrus, 32
Whale, Atlantic Right, 61
” Beaked, 101
” Bottle-head, 101
” Broad-fronted, 101
” Cuvier’s, 102
” Greenland Right, 49
” Humpbacked, 69
” Pilot, 118
” Sowerby’s, 105
” Sperm, 85
” White, 108
White-sided Dolphin, 125
White-beaked Dolphin, 125
Ziphioid Whales, 98
_Ziphius cavirostris_, 102
ERRATA.
Page 77, bottom line, for _Physalis_ read _Physalus_.
” 126, for _alberostris_ read _albirostris_.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
_Figure_ 1.--HIND FLIPPERS OF RINGED SEAL 2
” 2.--SKELETON OF SEAL 12
” 3.--RINGED OR MARBLED SEAL 15
” 4.--GREENLAND SEAL 20
” 5.--HOODED SEAL 25
” 6.--GREY SEAL 29
” 7.--WALRUS 33
” 8.--_Vacca Marina_ 37
” 9.--HEAD OF WALRUS 39
” 10.--SEA HORSE (after Cook) 41
” 11.--SECTION OF SKULL OF WHALEBONE WHALE 46
” 12.--GREENLAND RIGHT-WHALE 51
” 13.--ATLANTIC RIGHT-WHALE 60
” 14.--COMMON RORQUAL 71
” 15.--LESSER RORQUAL 80
” 16.--SPERM WHALE 84
” 17.--CHAIR IN GREAT YARMOUTH CHURCH 87
” 18.--BACK VIEW OF DITTO, DITTO 87
” 19.--SKELETON OF SPERM WHALE 88
” 20.--SKULL OF DITTO 90
” 21.--HEAD OF SOWERBY’S WHALE 104
” 22.--BELUGA, CAUGHT BY THE TAIL 109
” 23.--GRAMPUS 112
” 24.--_Pseudorca crassidens_ 114
” 25.--RISSO’S DOLPHIN 116
” 26.--PILOT WHALE 118
” 27.--COMMON DOLPHIN 122
” 28.--BOTTLE-NOSED DOLPHIN 124
” 29.--WHITE-BEAKED DOLPHIN 126
* * * * *
TABLE OF BRITISH CETACEA 48
” DIFFERENCES OF BRITISH MYSTACOCETI 82
SEALS AND WHALES
OF THE
BRITISH SEAS.
The two great groups of Marine Mammals known as _Pinnipedia_ and
_Cetacea_, although widely separated from each other zoologically,
naturally present themselves to us side by side as inhabiting the
same regions; the facilities for studying the one are also equally
favourable for obtaining a knowledge of the other. It is remarkable
that in few groups of the animal world, until recently, has so much
confusion existed as in the Seals and Whales. This has, of late years,
through the labours of European and American naturalists, to some
extent been remedied, although very much still remains to be done, the
literature of the subject being still so scattered, that much of it is
inaccessible to the ordinary student. The arrangement and nomenclature
adopted in the following short account of the Seals and Whales
inhabiting or occurring in the seas, or on the shores, surrounding the
British Islands, is that used by Mr. Alston in the second edition of
Bell’s ‘British Quadrupeds.’
PINNIPEDIA.
The _Pinnipedia_ (fin-footed) forms a well-marked sub-order of the
Carnivora, and may be divided into three distinct families--the
_Phocidæ_, or true Seals; the _Trichechidæ_, represented by one species
only--the Walrus; and the _Otariidæ_, or Eared Seals.
[Illustration: Fig. 1. HIND FLIPPERS OF RINGED SEAL (_after Murie_).
=A=, opened out; =B=, closed.]
The _Phocidæ_ are found both in the Northern and Southern hemispheres,
most plentifully in the cold regions, but extending into the temperate
seas; in the Northern hemisphere they are found as far south as 40° N.
latitude; two species, however, are said to be sub-tropical. The true
Seals may readily be distinguished by the absence of external ears,
and the position of the posterior limbs, which are not adapted for
progression on land, but admirably suited for propelling the animal
through the element in which it obtains its sustenance. These limbs are
directed backwards, and compressed laterally, the soles of the flippers
being turned inwards, and are only free from the ankle-joints. (Fig.
1). Like the whole group, the Seals are carnivorous. Five species are
believed to have occurred on our shores.
The family of _Trichechidæ_ is limited to one genus, and that
consisting of only one species, the Walrus or Morse, which is
essentially Arctic in its habitat, and on our coasts can only be
regarded as a very rare and accidental straggler; in this animal there
is no external ear; its limbs are adapted for raising the body from the
ground, thus enabling it to progress by their means upon dry land.
The third family, _Otariidæ_, consists of several genera and species
(according to Gray); they are distinguished from both _Phocidæ_ and
_Trichechus_ by the presence of external ear-conchs, and from the
former by the structure of their limbs, which are free and adapted for
progression upon land, where at a certain season they take up their
abode for a considerable period. Dr. Pettigrew also points out that the
fore-feet are hardly used by the true Seals as means of propulsion in
the water, whereas in the Eared Seals they form the chief organs used
for that purpose, and in the Walrus all four limbs are employed. The
Eared Seals inhabit the lonely shores and islands of the Pacific Ocean
and South Seas, where they are hunted for their skins; the beautiful
“seal-skin” of commerce, so much prized for its lustre and softness,
being the dyed and prepared under-fur of some members of this family.
The _Otariidæ_ are not represented in our fauna.
The true Seals spend most of their time in the water, but visit the
shore or ice to bask in the sun or bring forth their young; this last
takes place early in the summer, and it is seldom that more than one is
produced at a birth. Some species enter the water almost immediately
after birth, but others are two or three weeks before they leave the
ice, quitting it at first very unwillingly, but soon becoming expert
at swimming and diving. The power of the Seal to remain beneath the
water for lengthened periods Dr. Wallace[1] believes to be acquired
rather than structural. Their food consists of crustacea and fish, with
an occasional sea-bird. Some species are migratory in their habits.
In disposition they are usually timid and gentle, and capable of
attachment, when in confinement, to those who feed and attend them. The
Bladder-nose and Grey Seals, however, appear to be exceptions to this
rule; the former is said to be fierce and vindictive, rather courting
than fleeing from danger, and altogether a formidable opponent. Their
great affection for their young is made use of by the sealers for their
destruction.
Although Seals are not found in sufficient numbers round our own
coast to be of any commercial value, in the Northern Seas, where they
congregate in vast numbers at the breeding season, the seal-fishery is
of great importance as a branch of industry, and finds employment for
a large number of vessels and men, both from this country and from the
ports of Northern Europe. In the Greenland seal-fishery the Norwegian
whalers had in 1874 sixteen steamers and nineteen sailing-ships, with
an aggregate tonnage of 9,000 tons, manned by 1,600 sailors, and in the
three years ending 1874 they killed 142,500 young Seals and 128,000 old
ones, notwithstanding which the balance-sheet of the three years showed
only a small profit on the steamers and a large loss on the sailing
vessels.[2] An official return issued by Messrs. David Bruce and Co.,
of Dundee, shows that in the season of 1879, eleven Dundee ships and
five from Peterhead, were engaged in the Greenland seal-trade; the
total catch of these sixteen ships was 35,044 Seals; four ships from
Dundee visited Newfoundland and captured 70,355 Seals, making a total
for the British ships alone of 105,399 Seals, exclusive of those
wounded and lost, or otherwise destroyed. These produced 1280 tons of
oil, worth about £25 per ton, or £32,000, exclusive of skins, which
sell for about 5s. each. The majority of the Norwegian vessels also
bring their cargoes to this country. Captain David Gray informs me that
the seal-fishery was commenced from the Port of Peterhead, in the year
1819, since which time to the close of the season of 1879, the large
number of 1,673,052 Seals have been taken by the vessels belonging to
that port. The Dundee vessels did not take part in the seal-fishery
till the year 1860, but have from that time to 1879 taken 917,278
Seals. This total is greatly swollen by the results of the Newfoundland
fishery; four Dundee vessels in 1879 took 70,355 Seals in Newfoundland,
whereas, in the same season, eleven Dundee and five Peterhead vessels
took only 35,044 Seals in the Greenland fishery. The Dundee ships,
after the Newfoundland fishery is ended, generally land their oil and
skins at St. John’s, and proceed on their whaling voyage to Greenland
and Davis’ Straits.
Dr. Wallace[3] estimates the annual produce of the Greenland
Seal-fishery alone at the sum of £116,000; the bulk of the seals taken
are the Harp Seal (_Phoca grœnlandica_).
Several attempts had been made to establish a seal-fishery at
Newfoundland, from the port of Dundee, but with small success till
the year 1876: in that year Messrs. Alexander Stephen and Son secured
premises at St. John’s, and sent out two vessels to be manned chiefly
by a Newfoundland crew; the result was a great success, and this firm
has since prosecuted the fishing with very satisfactory results. The
Dundee Seal and Whale Fishing Company have also three steamers in
the trade, in addition to those engaged at the Greenland fishery.
Mr. David Bruce, of Dundee, to whom I am indebted for the above
particulars, informs me that the season of 1880 was a failure in the
Newfoundland fishery, and that out of a fleet of twenty-four steamers,
not more than six of them would pay their expenses.
Mr. J. A. Allen[4] gives an interesting account of the rise and
progress of the Newfoundland fishery, which he characterises as “the
sealing-ground, _par excellence_, of the world, twice as many Seals
being taken here by the Newfoundland fleet alone as by the combined
sealing-fleets of Great Britain, Germany, and Norway, in the icy seas
about Jan Mayen, or the so-called ‘Greenland Sea’ of the whalemen and
sealers.” So early as 1721, thousands of “sea-wolves” were killed
in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but, according to Mr. Michael Carroll,
of Bonavista, Newfoundland, in his account of the ‘Seal and Herring
Fisheries of Newfoundland,’ published in 1873, as quoted by Mr. Allen,
it was not till the year 1763 that the seal-fishery was regularly
prosecuted there by vessels specially equipped for the purpose. The
trade, however, rapidly assumed importance, and in 1807 thirty vessels
from Newfoundland alone were engaged in it. In 1834 the Newfoundland
fleet had increased to three hundred and seventy-five, besides a
considerable number of vessels from Nova Scotia and the Magdalen
Islands; in 1857 the number of vessels employed appears to have reached
its maximum, exceeding three hundred and seventy, whilst the catch of
Seals was estimated at 500,000. About the year 1866, steamships were
first introduced, and have ever since been increasingly employed; the
result has been a steady decrease in the number of vessels, which,
in 1871, were reduced to one hundred and forty-six sailing vessels
and fifteen steamers, or less than one-half, but the number of Seals
taken annually, up to 1873, appears to have remained about the same,
and, notwithstanding the enormous destruction of these creatures,
which takes place every season on the Newfoundland sealing grounds,
many thousands of which, from the wasteful methods employed in their
capture, are never accounted for, Mr. Carroll is still of opinion that
up to the year 1873, their numbers were actually on the increase: this
can hardly continue much longer to be the case.
I will only mention one of the methods employed by the Newfoundland
sealers, which must eventually be attended with the most disastrous
effects. This mode is technically called “panning.” Mr. Carroll,
writing in 1871 says, “No greater injury can possibly be done to the
seal-fishery than that of bulking Seals on pans of ice by crews of
ice-hunters. Thousands of Seals are killed and bulked, and never seen
afterwards. When the men come up with a large number of old and young
Seals, that cannot get into the water, owing to the ice being in one
solid jam, they drive them together, selecting a pan surrounded with
rafted ice, on which thousands of Seals are placed one over the other,
perhaps fifteen feet deep. A certain number of men is picked out by the
ship-master to pelt and put on board the bulked Seals, whilst other
men are sent to kill more. It often happens that the men are obliged
to go from one to ten miles, before they come up with the Seals again,
and very often the men pile from five hundred to two thousand in each
bulk, which bulks are from one to two miles apart; care is also taken
that flags are stuck up as a guide to direct the men where to find such
bulked Seals. So uncertain is the weather, and precarious the shifting
about of the ice, as well as heavy falls of snow and drift, that very
often such bulked Seals are never seen again by the men that killed
and bulked them, as the vessels and steamships are frequently driven
by gales of wind far out of sight or reach of them, and frequently
wheeled or driven into another spot, when the men again commence
killing and bulking as before. In many instances it has happened that
the crews of vessels, as well as the crews of steamships, have killed
and bulked twice their load. No doubt Seals that are bulked are
often picked up by the crews of other vessels, but such is the law,
that as long as the flags are erected upon the bulks, and the vessel
or steamship is in sight, no man can take them, notwithstanding the
vessel’s or steamship’s men that bulked them may be ten miles away from
them, whilst another vessel may be driven within a quarter of a mile
of thousands of bulked Seals, but, owing to the law, dare not take
them.” The skins, if left, are also liable to injury by the frost or
sun, or by the capsizing of the pan they may be totally lost. In the
spring of 1872, some five thousand Seals, obtained to the westward of
Bonavista, by the inhabitants of that place, were heaped upon the ice.
“There were thirteen flags to be seen in the morning over bulked Seals,
and when the drift ice struck the land in the evening, only six of the
flags were visible, the ice having rafted over both flags and Seals.
Some days after, when the ice moved off from the shore, several bulks
of Seals were found, but in such a putrid state that they could not be
handled.”[5] Comment upon the consequences which must speedily result
from such lamentable waste of life is needless.
Nor, until very recently, was the seal-fishery in the Greenland Seas
prosecuted with any greater regard to humanity or economy. “Supposing
the sealing prosecuted with the same vigour as at present,” says Dr.
Brown, “I have little hesitation in stating that before thirty years
shall have passed away, the seal-fishery, as a source of commercial
revenue, will have come to a close, and the progeny of the immense
number of Seals now swimming about in Greenland waters will number
but comparatively few.” Dr. Brown’s remarks were written in the year
1868, and the prediction is already virtually fulfilled: a report,
giving an account of the success of the Dundee vessels employed in
the Newfoundland seal-fishery in 1877, after stating that 39,000
Seals were said to have been captured by two vessels, concludes
thus:--“Previously all Dundee vessels were employed at the _Greenland_
seal-fishing, but Captain Adams has for some years been of opinion
that _that ground is practically used up_, and hence his visit to
Newfoundland.”
I will spare the reader, as much as possible, a repetition of the
horrors of this cruel trade, and make only a single quotation from a
letter written by an old and experienced sealer, Captain David Gray, of
the steamship _Eclipse_. He says that five ships in 1873 shot among the
old Seals for four days until the pack was utterly ruined. “I suppose,”
he continues, “about 10,000 old Seals had been taken. Add 20 per cent.
for Seals mortally wounded and lost, gives an aggregate of 12,000 old
ones; add 12,000 young ones which died of starvation (their parents
being killed before the young ones were of any value or able to shift
for themselves), gives 24,000 ... The whole of the young brood was
destroyed, and had these Seals been left alone for eight or ten days,
I am quite within the mark when I say that, instead of only taking 300
tons of oil out of them, 1,500 could as easily have been got, and that
without touching an old one.”[6] So great are the cruelties perpetrated
by the crews of the sealers, that even the men themselves, hardened as
they are, sicken at the work, and cry shame that the law does not put
a stop to them. Let anybody who cares to know what fearful cruelties
man is capable of perpetrating for gain, read Captain Gray’s letter.
As a remedy for this waste of life (of course its cruelties can only
be modified) Captain Gray suggested that the ships should be kept from
sailing before the 25th of March, about a month later than they then
started; they would then not reach the fishery and find the young
Seals until they were sufficiently grown to be worth killing, and the
frightful waste of life which occurred from the destruction of the
old Seals before the young ones were able to shift for themselves,
resulting in the death from starvation of the whole brood, thus be put
a stop to.
With this object in view, an Act was passed in 1875, in which the
Foreign States interested concurred, prohibiting the killing of the
Seals before the 3rd of April in each year; from some misunderstanding
this Act was not enforced in the season of 1876, but in 1877 it was
rigidly observed by the ships of all nations engaged in the fishery.
The result of the season’s fishing was very unsatisfactory, owing to
the absence of the large bodies of Seals which formerly were met with.
Captain Gray, after three years’ experience of the operation of this
Act, considers that the fishing still opens too early,[7] and that an
additional three days are necessary to enable the young Seals to arrive
at their best, and prevent the useless slaughter of the old ones, which
are getting thin from being suckled. He is of opinion that, since the
introduction of the close time, the Greenland Seals are not diminishing
quite so rapidly as they were, but that the restriction has not been in
operation long enough to form a very accurate opinion.
The Walrus is even more rapidly and surely becoming exterminated than
the Seal; it has become extinct from station after station, and but
for its ice-loving habits, which render its present strongholds always
difficult and sometimes impossible of access, it would now probably,
like Steller’s Rhytina, have to be spoken of in the past tense.
THE COMMON SEAL.
This species, _Phoca vitulina_, of Linnæus, is, _par excellence_, the
COMMON SEAL of the British waters. It is found, although in greatly
reduced numbers, on unfrequented shores and sands, from the Orkney and
Shetland Islands, where it most abounds, to Cornwall, occasionally
ascending estuaries and rivers for a considerable distance, but never
quitting the immediate vicinity of the water. According to Bell, it
occurs on both sides the North Atlantic, and is common in Spitzbergen,
Greenland, and Davis’s Straits; also Northern Russia, Scandinavia,
Holland, and France, and is said to occur occasionally in the
Mediterranean.[8] It figures largely in the returns of the Danish and
Greenland fishery, where the number killed annually of this species and
_Ph. hispida_ is estimated by Dr. Brown at about 70,000.
Low, who died in 1795, says in the ‘Fauna Oncadensis,’ “A ship commonly
goes from this place once a-year to Soliskerry, and seldom returns
without 200 or 300 Seals;” these they killed by landing on the rock,
and knocking them on the head. He also says that in North Ronaldsha
they take them for the purpose of eating, and that the inhabitants
say “they make good ham.” Though at present far less numerous than
formerly, it is still abundant in the unfrequented bays and sounds
of the Orkney and Shetland Islands; also, on the Hebrides. On the
mainland, Mr. Alston (‘Fauna of Scot.’ _Proc. Glasgow Nat. Hist. Soc._)
says it is found in all localities where it is free from intrusion,
especially on the North and West shores; it is also common on some
parts of the Irish Coast. In Wales it is not uncommon, and on the
Cornish, and some few other favoured localities of the English coast
it is still well known; on other parts of our shores it is decidedly
rare. In the great estuary between the Norfolk and Lincolnshire coasts,
called the “Wash,” this species frequents the sand-banks left dry at
low water, and, doubtless, many young ones are produced there annually.
At birth, which takes place about the month of June, the young Seal is
covered with a coat of white woolly hair, which is shed in parturition,
or shortly after, and the young one takes to the water when only a
few hours old. Mr. Bartlett gives an account of the birth of a young
one (at the time believed to be _Ph. hispida_) in the Zoological
Gardens,[9] and states that it completely divested itself of its coat
of fur and hair in a few minutes, and was swimming and diving about
within three hours of its birth; its mother turned on her side to let
it suck, and its voice was a low, soft “ba.” The first coat is not shed
so quickly in some species, nor do they all take to the water at so
early an age; as, for example, _Ph. grœnlandica_, which is two or three
weeks before it leaves the ice.
[Illustration: Fig. 2. SKELETON OF SEAL.]
The total length of the adult is about 4 to 5 feet, and its coat is
generally of a yellowish colour, thickly spotted with black on the back
and upper parts, but less distinctly so on the sides. The under parts
are a bright silvery hue; there is, however, considerable variety in
colour and in the distinctness of the spots. This species is readily
domesticated, and displays great intelligence, and even affection for
those who feed and tend it. Almost everybody must have been struck with
the docility displayed by the Seals which are occasionally exhibited
as “talking fish.” At the Zoological Gardens and at the Brighton and
other Aquaria, where they are a never-failing source of attraction,
their graceful movements in their confined homes cannot fail to excite
admiration. Swimming silently and swiftly along, the animal threads
with the greatest accuracy the intricacies of its narrow pond, assuming
every possible attitude, and turning over and over in its course,
as much at ease when swimming on its back as in its usual position.
When, tired with this exercise, it comes to the edge of its pond and
raises itself out of the water, its rounded head, and bright, full
black eyes have something almost human in their expression, and the
fabled “mermaid” seems a reality; but when once it leaves the water,
it is clearly seen that it is no longer in the element in which it is
destined to live and move, for its motions are laboured and awkward
in the extreme. It throws itself along, first on one side and then
on the other, just as a man tightly sewn in a sack would do, but,
notwithstanding its clumsiness, contrives to make considerable progress.
This species may be distinguished by the arrangement of its molar
teeth, which are placed obliquely along either side of the jaw, not
in a line with each other. It has been said that this is only a
characteristic of youth, and that the peculiar arrangement disappears
“before the skull attains its maximum size.” In the second edition of
Bell’s ‘Quadrupeds,’ however, the authors express their belief that
“it will be found a characteristic of all ages, although certainly
more marked in the young than in very old animals.” Dr. Brown says
that the Greenland Seal (_Ph. grœnlandica_) in its second coat has
often been mistaken for this species, but that the former may readily
be distinguished by its having the second toe of the fore flipper the
longest. The hair next the skin is short and woolly, but externally
harsh and shining, admirably adapted for repelling the water in
which the animal passes so much of its time; the whiskers with which
the upper lip is furnished, are thick, flattened hairs, laterally
compressed, presenting diamond-shaped inequalities: this form of
bristle is found in all the British Seals, whereas _Phoca barbata_, a
species shortly to be mentioned as of doubtful occurrence on our coast,
has the bristles compressed, but smooth. The food of the Common Seal
consists of fish and crustacea.
THE RINGED, OR MARBLED SEAL.
The only recorded instance of the occurrence of the RINGED SEAL, _Phoca
hispida_, of Schreber, on the British coast, is that of an individual
captured on the Norfolk coast, in June, 1846, and purchased by Mr.
J. H. Gurney, in the flesh, in the Norwich fish-market, the skull of
which is now in the Museum of that city. Although no other instance
of its occurrence is on record, it seems not improbable that it may
occasionally be met with, and pass unrecognized. In the first volume
of the ‘Magazine of Zoology and Botany,’ Mr. Wilson, in a paper on the
Scottish Seals, speaks of a small Seal which was sometimes seen in the
Hebrides, and believed by the natives to be a distinct species: this
was rendered probable by their not associating with the Common Seals,
and not being so wild in their nature. It is thought that this small
Seal may have been _Ph. hispida_. Small dark-coloured Seals have more
than once been seen on the Norfolk and Lincolnshire coast, or exhibited
in the towns, which it is quite possible also may have belonged to this
species. That it inhabited the coast of Scotland in the past, there is
evidence in the abundance of the remains of this species found in the
glacial clays of that country, as identified by Professor Turner.[10]
[Illustration: Fig. 3. RINGED SEAL (_Phoca hispida_).]
The small Seal found in the inland fresh-waters of Lake Baikal is
believed to be a variety of this species, differing only in its darker
colour; it has, however, been separated, under the name of _Ph.
baikalensis_ by M. Dybowski (_Arch. f. Anat. u. Phys._, 1873, p. 109).
The type of _Ph. discolor_, F. Cuv., was taken in the Channel, and,
according to De Sélys-Longchamps, this species has also occurred on the
Belgian coast.
At present its home is the high latitudes of the Arctic seas,
especially parallels 76 and 77 deg. North, and many are killed in
South Greenland. In Davis’s Straits it is found all the year round,
particularly up the ice-fjords; in Cumberland Gulf it is said to
be by far the most common Seal, and forms the principal food of
the Esquimaux. This was the only species found by the late Arctic
expedition north of Cape Union, 82° 15′ N. lat. Captain Feilden, the
Naturalist to Sir G. Nares’ Arctic Expedition, in an account of the
‘Mammalia of North Greenland and Grinnell Land’ (_Zoologist_, 1877,
p. 359), thus speaks of this species:--“The Ringed Seal was met with
in most of the bays we entered during our passage up and down Smith
Sound. It was the only species seen north of Cape Union, and which
penetrates into the Polar Sea. Lieutenant Aldrich, R.N., during his
autumn sledging, in 1875, noticed a single example in a pool of water
near Cape Joseph Henry, and a party which I accompanied in September,
1875, secured one in Dumbell Harbour, some miles north of the winter
quarters of the “Alert”: its stomach contained remains of crustaceans
and annelids. In June of the following year I observed three or four
of these animals on the ice of Dumbell Harbour. They had made holes in
the bay ice that had formed in this protected inlet. The polar pack was
at this time of the year firmly wedged against the shores of Grinnell
Land, and so tightly packed in Robeson Channel that no Seal could by
any possibility have worked its way into this inlet from outside. I am,
therefore, quite satisfied that _Phoca hispida_ is resident throughout
the year in the localities mentioned. A female killed on the 23rd
August, 1876, weighed 65 lbs.” This species has, therefore, probably
the most northerly habitat of any existing mammal.
Dr. Brown, in his paper on the ‘Greenland Seals’ (_Proc. Zool. Soc._,
June, 1868,) gives an interesting account of this species, which,
like the preceding, is littoral in its habits, seldom frequenting
the open sea, but found generally in the neighbourhood of the coast
ice, in retired situations. It is known by the whalers as the “Floe
rat,” and its food consists of various species of crustacea and small
fishes. This is the smallest of the Northern Seals, and of very little
commercial value: its flesh, however, is eaten, and its skin forms the
chief material of clothing in Greenland.
In appearance, this species is very like the Common Seal; but it is
darker in colour, more particularly on the back, and the spots in the
adult are surrounded by oval-shaped whitish rings; the young ones are
lighter in colour. The old male is said to emit a most disgusting
smell: hence one of its specific names, “fœtida.” Dr. Rink says that
this unpleasant odour is more developed in those which are captured
in the interior ice-fjords, “which are also, on an average perhaps,
twice as large as those generally occurring off the outer shores.
When brought into the hut, and cut up on its floor, such a Seal emits
a smell resembling something between that of assafœtida and onions,
almost insupportable to strangers. This peculiarity is not noticeable
in the younger specimens, or those of a smaller size, such as are
generally caught, and at all events the smell does not detract from the
utility of the flesh over the whole of Greenland.”[11]
[Illustration: Fig. 4. GREENLAND SEAL (_Phoca grœnlandica_).
Adult and Immature.]
The molar teeth in this species are arranged in a straight line along
the jaws, and not obliquely, as in the common species. As this Seal is
very likely to pass unnoticed, should it occur on our coast, it will
be well to bear in mind that this arrangement of the molars will at
once distinguish it from _Ph. vitulina_, the only species with which
it is likely to be confounded. Professor Flower has given a minute
description of the skull of the Norfolk specimen in the ‘_Proc. Zool.
Soc._’ for 1871, pp. 506-12. The figure of this species is copied from
Karl Thorin’s ‘Grundlinier Zoologiens Studium,’ p. 53 (Stockholm, 1868).
THE GREENLAND SEAL.
The claims of the GREENLAND SEAL, _Phoca grœnlandica_ (Fab.), to a
place in the British Fauna, although long considered highly probable,
were not rendered perfectly conclusive until 1874, when they were
satisfactorily established by Professor Turner’s identification of a
Seal killed in January, 1868, near the viaduct on the Lancaster and
Ulverstone Railway, and now preserved in the Kendal Museum. Professor
Turner (‘_Journal of Anatomy and Physiology_,’ vol. ix. p. 163) says
that he has himself examined this specimen, and found the dentition
exactly to agree with that of the skulls of the Greenland Seals with
which he compared it. The individual in question, a male, measured six
feet from the tip of the nose to the “point of the hind toes,” and the
colour indicated the age to be about three years. Previously to this,
the claims of this species to a place in our list rested principally
upon the skulls of two Seals killed in the Severn, and exhibited by
Dr. Reilly at the meeting of the British Association at Bristol in
1836. These skulls were at first referred by Professor Nilsson to
_Ph. hispida_, but afterwards, both by that gentleman and Professor
Bell, determined to belong to _Ph. grœnlandica_. Doubts having been
thrown on the accuracy of this decision, Professor Bell, in the second
edition of his ‘British Quadrupeds’ p. 253, again states his belief
that he was correct in assigning them to the young of this species.
These specimens are unfortunately lost. Several supposed cases of the
occurrence of this species are recorded, but in no instance were they
supported by the production of the animal itself. Dr. Saxby (‘_Zool._’
1864) says that this Seal is not rare in bad weather in the Voe of
Baltasound, Shetland; and Mr. H. Evans, of Darnley Abbey, Derbyshire,
in the year 1856, shot what he believes to have been a Greenland Seal
near Roundstone, county Galway,--“Unfortunately, the animal sank and
was lost; but Mr. Evans, who is well acquainted with the common and
grey species, is perfectly certain that it was quite different from
either” (Bell, 2 edit., p. 254). Perhaps the best authenticated case of
the supposed occurrence of this species on our shores is given by Mr.
H. D. Graham in Part I., vol. i. of the ‘Proceedings of the Nat. Hist.
Society of Glasgow,’ p. 53 (Feb. 24, 1863). Three large white Seals
were seen by Mr. Graham in Loch Tabert, Jura, Western Isles, lying on
some shelving rocks, about 300 or 400 yards from the shore. They were
watched through an excellent deer-stalking telescope for three hours,
and Mr. Graham states that the characteristic markings of the Harp Seal
could be distinctly seen. He also believes that, in three authentic
instances, captures of _white_ Seals, of extraordinary size, had been
made, and states some particulars of the habits and appearance of these
animals, as communicated to him by the islanders--to whom they appear
to have been well known,--which render it highly probable that they
belonged to this species. Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown[12] also saw four
Seals, which he believes to have been of this species, on a rock in
the Sound of Harris, on May 2nd, 1870. They took to the water, but
as they “kept close in, and often rushed past within a few feet” of
where he and his companion were standing, they had an excellent view of
them, and “the large splashy-looking dark marks on either side of the
back” were distinctly visible. Although essentially an Arctic species,
this animal has a very wide geographical range, which, added to its
migratory habits, renders it not at all improbable that individuals
occasionally wander to our shores.
This species is a native of the Arctic Ocean, and ranges from the
N.E. coast of America to the Kara Sea (where it was found by the
Swedish Arctic Expedition in 1875), changing its quarters according to
season.[13] It is this species which constitutes the chief object of
pursuit in the northern Seal-fishery, and the season chosen for the
attack is when they visit the ice for the purpose of producing their
young ones. Dr. Brown says, “They take to the ice, to bring forth
their young, generally between the middle of March and the middle of
April, according to the state of the season, &c., the most common time
being about the end of March. At this time they can be seen literally
covering the frozen waste, with the aid of a telescope, from the
‘crow’s-nest,’ at the main royal mast-head, and have on such occasions
been calculated to number upwards of half a million of males and
females.”[14] The young, when born, are pure white, which changes to
a yellow tint. At about 14 days old they begin to take to the water,
and at the age of a month are capable of taking care of themselves:
they then assume a spotted coat, which changes gradually to the adult
markings, which are perfected in about three years. The adult male is
about five feet long, the body generally of a tawny grey, varying to
nearly white, marked with a conspicuous band of dark brown or black
spots running into each other, which, commencing on the upper part of
the back between the shoulders and curving downwards, is continued
along the sides, disappearing before it reaches the hind flippers.
The under parts are a dingy white, and the muzzle nearly black. The
female, according to Dr. Brown, rarely reaches five feet in length,
and is a dull white or yellowish straw-colour, tawny on the back, and
with similar markings to the male, but somewhat lighter. Some are
bluish or dark grey on the back, with “oval markings of a dark colour
apparently impressed on a yellowish or reddish-brown ground:” these,
Dr. Brown believes to be young females. The adult Greenland Seal is
readily recognized, but it varies so greatly in its different stages
of immaturity, and individuals differ so much from each other, that
the most trustworthy characters are to be found in the dentition and
the structure of the skull, which should in all cases be preserved, as
affording the most ready and reliable means of determining the species
of doubtful individuals. As has before been said, the second toe of the
fore flipper is the longest in this species.
HOODED SEAL.
The HOODED OR BLADDER-NOSED SEAL, _Cystophora cristata_ (Erxleben),
fig. 5, has occurred at least thrice upon our shores. In June, 1847, a
young one was killed in the Orwell, and is now in the Ipswich Museum;
in 1872 a second young one was killed in Scotland near St. Andrew’s;
and a third specimen, an adult male, was caught in February, 1873, at
Frodsham, on the Cheshire side of the Mersey, and lived in captivity
till the beginning of the following June (Pr. Liverpool Soc. xxvii.
p. 63). Others are believed to have been obtained in the Orkneys. Mr.
Howard Saunders was assured that the “Bladder-nose” is well-known as a
visitor to the Vae Skerries, Shetland (Alston’s ‘Mammalia of Scotland,’
p. 15); and a Seal supposed to be of this species was seen off the
Irish coast near Westport. In Hollingshed’s ‘Chronicles,’ in the year
1577, sundry fishes of monstrous shape, with cowls on their heads like
monks, and in the rest resembling the body of a man, are said to have
occurred in the Firth of Forth (Bell’s ‘Brit. Quads.’), the appearance
of which was of course followed by pestilence and famine. Throughout
the Polar seas this species is widely distributed, being found in the
Greenland seas, Iceland, and Spitzbergen, also occasionally in the
temperate waters of Europe and America. It is polygamous and migratory
in its habits: during the rutting season it is very pugnacious, and
Dr. Brown says great battles take place between the males, and their
roaring is said to be so loud that it can be heard for miles off. The
young, which are born in April, are pure white at first, which changes
to grey, and gradually becomes darker till it assumes the adult colour
and markings, which it appears to do about the fourth year; the colour
then is “dark chestnut or black, with a greater or less number of
round or oval markings of a still deeper hue.” The adult is furnished
with a curious bladder-like appendage, commencing at the nostrils,
with which it is connected, and continued upwards to the forehead:
this, when inflated, presents a very remarkable appearance; when the
animal is at rest it remains flaccid, but when irritated or excited,
it is blown up to its full extent. It is generally believed that the
“bladder” is found only in the male, but Dr. Brown does not think there
is any just ground for this belief; he does not, however, assign any
reason for doubting what has been positively asserted to be the case.
The Bladder-nose Seal is fierce in its nature and dangerous to attack;
although not actually taking the initiative it is always ready for
battle, and will avail itself of any advantage by turning upon and
following its opponent. The air-bladder, which is placed in the spot
usually most vulnerable, renders it difficult to kill, as it forms a
protection from the clubs of the sealers. This is one of the largest of
the Northern Seals, varying, according to different authorities, from 7
to 10 or even 12 feet in length. The first toe of the fore flipper is
the longest.
[Illustration: Fig. 5. HOODED SEAL (_Cystophora cristata_).]
THE GREY SEAL.
One other species of true Seal, the GREY SEAL, _Halichœrus gryphus_
(Fab.), claims a place in the British Fauna. Dr. Brown says the Grey
Seal “has no doubt been frequently confounded with other species,
particularly _Ph. barbata_ and _Ph. grœnlandica_.” Such has undoubtedly
been the case, and a specimen in the British Museum, long regarded as
_Ph. barbata_, has been referred to this species. There is, I believe,
no sufficient evidence that _Ph. barbata_ has ever occurred on the
British coast; but so imperfect even now is our acquaintance with the
Seals which frequent our shores, that it may even yet be found. As
before mentioned, the bristles forming the “whiskers” of _Ph. barbata_,
are simple flattened hairs, without the impressed pattern found in
the bristles of the known British species; they are nearly the same
thickness throughout, and sharply curved near the end.
The Grey Seal has been found on various parts of the coast, from
Shetland to the Isle of Wight; the Orkney and Shetland Isles, the
Hebrides, and the west coast of Ireland, however, appear to be its
chief places of resort on our shores; it has also been known to breed
on the Fern Islands. Haskier Island, off North Uist, has long been
known as a favourite breeding-place of this species. Captain Elwes,
who visited this island on the 30th June, 1868 (‘Ibis,’ 1869, p. 25),
informed Mr. Harvie-Brown that, up to the year 1858, an annual battle
was held there in the month of November, when the Seals resort to the
rocks with their young ones, and that from forty to one hundred, old
and young, would be killed. This wholesale destruction has been put a
stop to, and as it is extremely shy and difficult to approach at other
seasons, it is to be hoped that this species may for some time escape
extermination in this favourite resort.
[Illustration: Fig. 6. GREY SEAL (_Halichœrus gryphus_).]