r a life among icy seas, and
there it is now found often in large herds. Captain Beechey and other
voyagers to the seas around Spitzbergen, describe them as being
particularly abundant on the western coast of that inclement island. The
captain says that in fine weather they resort to large pieces of ice at
the edge of the main body, where herds of them may be seen of sometimes
more than a hundred individuals each. "In these situations they appear
greatly to enjoy themselves, rolling and sporting about, and frequently
making the air resound with their bellowing, which bears some
resemblance to that of a bull. These diversions generally end in sleep,
during which these wary animals appear always to take the precaution of
having a sentinel to warn them of any danger." The only warning,
however, which the sentinel gives, is by seeking his own safety; in
effecting which, as the herd lie huddled on one another like swine, the
motion of one is speedily communicated to the whole, and they instantly
tumble, one over the other, into the sea, head-foremost, if possible;
but failing that, anyhow.

Scoresby remarks that the front part of the head of the young walrus,
without tusks, when seen at a distance, is not unlike the human face. It
has the habit of raising its head above the water to look at ships and
other passing objects; and when seen in such a position, it may have
given rise to some of the stories of mermaids.

There is still a considerable uncertainty as to the food of the walrus.
Cook found no traces of aliment in the stomachs of those shot by his
party. Crantz says that in Greenland shell-fish and sea-weeds seem to be
its only subsistence. Scoresby found shrimps, a kind of craw-fish, and
the remains of young seals, in the stomachs of those which he examined.
Becchey mentions, that in the inside of several specimens he found
numerous granite pebbles larger than walnuts. These may be taken for the
same purpose that some birds, especially of the gallinaceous order,
swallow bits of gravel. Dr Von Baer concludes, from an analysis of all
the published accounts, that the walrus is omnivorous.[149] A specimen
that died at St Petersburg was fed on oatmeal mixed with turnips or
other vegetables; and the little fellow, who lately died in the Regent's
Park, seems to have been fed by the sailors on oatmeal porridge.

One of the chief characteristics of the walrus is the presence of two
elongated tusks (the canine teeth) in the u