FIERCE BATTLE BETWEEN SEALS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4291, 21 December 1874, Page 3

FIERCE BATTLE BETWEEN SEALS.

The following spirited description of a fight between a pair of dog-seals is by the Inverness Courier's Nethcr-Lochaber correspondent : Ever since the beginning of summer, a large dog-seal, recognisable as such by his immense, square, bull-dog-like head and fierce hirsute heard, has made our beautiful Onich bay his favorite evening fishing ground, until we have come to know him perfectly ; no difficult matter either, for he has a curious grey patch, larger thqu one’s baud, on his left cheek, and, unlike most seals, sinks not log-like when he disappears under water, but almost always, with a lively “header,” in which the whole back, arched and shining, is brought to view, as if for our special delectation, as we sit and watch his graceful motions with a glass powerful enough to detect the wary and intelligent glance of his beautiful dark-brown eye, and count, if need were, every separate bristle in his moustache. He is a big and powerful animal, and when in our bay, doubtless accounts himself lord of all he surveys, for of the hundreds of seals in Lochleven, he alone constantly frequents this particular semioval, sandy-bottomed inlet, his size and strength probably ensuring it to him as a sort of reserve, in which woe unto the interloping poacher caught sight of flagrante delicto by the bright eye of “Lord Nelson,” as we have long since called him, and all the people about callhim, for he is now known to everybody in the hamlet, and frequently spoken about with all the interest attached to a wild animal, actually suspicious and shy, but perfectly harmless, when, with a confidence extremely rare in animals of its kind, it approaches human habitations. On an afternoon lately, “ Lord Nelson” was fishing, as usual, in our bay, which, at the time, was mirror-smooth and calm as calm could be. We had watched him for some time through our glass, and seen him come to the surface more than once, and dispose of a flounder in his usual quiet and leisurely way, when, somewhat to our surprise, we caught sight of another seal seemingly as large as “ Nelson” himself, and about a hundred yards from him; and, at the same moment, his “ lordship” evidently saw him too. Ther-e could be no mistake about it, for he, first raising himself half-way out of the water, aud gazing excitedly around, with a splendid header and a very significant flourish of his hind flippers, instantly dived; the strangerseal also, who probably knew what was coming, diving immediately afterwards. What happened below is only known to such subaqueous spectators as might be about at the moment; we can only bear witness to what followed, and that was, that in about two minutes there was a wild splashing and violent commotion of the waters near the spot at which the stranger seal had disappeared, from the centre of which turmoil the two seals soon emerged, fighting in fierce grip like a pair of enraged bull-dogs. For several minutes this wild combat continued; Greek had met Greek; the beligerents hugging each other bear-like with their anterior flippers, and tearing at each other’s heads and throats with their terrible fangs, for the canine teeth of seals are exceedingly formidable, and their strength of jaw enormous. All this time they -wrestled and rolled over and over each other in deadly and desperate encounter, the sea for yards around them one sheet of boiling, hissing foam, here and there streaked with blood, as we could plainly discern by the aid of a glass, for we had, in the meantime, advanced to the margin of the sea, and were standing within some thirty yards of them. In the wild hurly-burly of the conflict, it was impossible to see or say whether “ Nelson” or “Villeneuve” was winning, for by the latter name had our son, who was along -with us, already dubbed the stranger seal, as, with true boy-like interest aud eagerness, he watched the fight. Had there been any betting on the event, we who knew “Nelson,” and believed in his prowess —for it rvas impossible to be impartial in such a case —would probably, have laid two to one freely on our favorite; remembering, too, the pithy Gaelic adage, “ 'S laidir oil air a dhunan fein: Strong is the dog that has his own home knoll for the battlefield! As it was, the battle was fought out and finished under water, so that we were not privileged to see the last of it. After a final fierce worry, in which the combatants reared their bodies more than half-way out of the water, aud much surface splashing and somersaulting, the belligerents, as if by common consent, disappeared, still fighting, however, as the hundreds of bursting bubbles that for a time kept coming to the surface clearly testified. In about a couple of minutes, the stranger seal came to the surface, swimming rapidly seawards ; he had evidently had enough of it ; aud shortly afterwards, “Nelson,” known at once by the grey patch on his cheek, re-appeared in the centre of the bay, quietly floating about, as if thoroughly tired of the tussle, and shaking his head dog-fashion now and again, from which we gathered that “Villeneuve,” though beaten, had left his mark upon the victor, and the victor was in this wise very significantly acknowledging the fact. It is worthy of remark, that throughout the whole of this curious fight, though from first to last it was as fierce and furious' as anything of the kind could be, not a sound was uttered by either combatant, except an occasional heavy, sighliko breathing, which was probably involuntary, and merely the natural result of unwonted physical exertion. And yet seals are by no means dumb, for their curious bleatings —we can find no better word for it—in the breeding season, must be known to every seaside naturalist. “Nelson,” the reader will perhaps be glad to hear, is all right again ; and, as yet, sole admiral of our bay, in which at tins moment, as wo write, ho is busy fishing for supper.