fighting that they fearlessly rushed close by me. Livingstone speaks of
the males of the many animals in Southern Africa as almost invariably
shewing the scars received in former contests.
The law of battle prevails with aquatic as with terrestrial mammals. It
is notorious how desperately male seals fight, both with their teeth
and claws, during the breeding-season; and their hides are likewise
often covered with scars. Male sperm-whales are very jealous at this
season; and in their battles they often lock their jaws together, and
turn on their sides and twist about ; so that their lower jaws often
become distorted. (2. On the battles of seals, see Capt. C. Abbott in
Proc. Zool. Soc. 1868, p. 191; Mr. R. Brown, ibid. 1868, p. 436; also
L. Lloyd, Game Birds of Sweden, 1867, p. 412; also Pennant. On the
sperm-whale see Mr. J.H. Thompson, in Proc. Zool. Soc. 1867, p. 246.)
All male animals which are furnished with special weapons for fighting,
are well known to engage in fierce battles. The courage and the
desperate conflicts of stags have often been described; their skeletons
have been found in various parts of the world, with the horns
inextricably locked together, shewing how miserably the victor and
vanquished had perished. (3. See Scrope ( Art of Deer-stalking, p. 17)
on the locking of the horns with the Cervus elaphus. Richardson, in
Fauna Bor. Americana, 1829, p. 252, says that the wapiti, moose, and
reindeer have been found thus locked together. Sir A. Smith found at
the Cape of Good Hope the skeletons of two gnus in the same condition.)
No animal in the world is so dangerous as an elephant in must. Lord
Tankerville has given me a graphic description of the battles between
the wild bulls in Chillingham Park, the descendants, degenerated in
size but not in courage, of the gigantic Bos primigenius. In 1861
several contended for mastery; and it was observed that two of the
younger bulls attacked in concert the old leader of the herd, overthrew
and disabled him, so that he was believed by the keepers to be lying
mortally wounded in a neighbouring wood. But a few days afterwards one
of the young bulls approached the wood alone; and then the monarch of
the chase, who had been lashing himself up for vengeance, came out
and, in a short time, killed his antagonist. He then quietly joined the
herd, and long held undisputed sway. Admiral Sir B.J. Sulivan informs
me that, when he lived in the Falkland Islands, he imported a young
English stallion, which frequented the hills near Port William with
eight mares. On these hills there were two wild stallions, each with a
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