Harbour Seal 



The two northern species, more especially the harp seal, which is 

 easily killed in numbers on its breeding ground, furnish most of 

 the skins and oil of commerce. Their skins, however, while of 

 considerable value for leather, are not to be confused with the 

 beautiful hides of the Alaskan fur seal or "sea bear" which 

 furnish the valuable sealskin of the furrier. 



On the New England coast the harbour seals may be looked 

 for at any time of the year, but farther south they are seldom 

 seen except in winter, haunting inlets and the mouths of rivers. 



The first one that I ever had an opportunity of observing I 

 met in its native element in August. We were both swimming 

 just inside the river's mouth at Hampton, N. H. ; its round head 

 broke the surface between myself and the boat, showed wet and 

 shining for a few seconds and was gone, to appear again 

 bobbing around at the edge of the breakers on the bar. 



Seals appear to be the most abundant along the New Eng- 

 land coast late in summer and autumn when they may be seen 

 from time to time swimming by the headlands or sprawling on 

 the wave-splashed rocks and beaches; the young are said to be 

 born at this season in caves just out of reach of the tide. 



Although the seals are just as warm-blooded, air-breathing 

 mammals as any, their race has lived in the sea for so long that 

 they have become almost as aquatic as fish; in fact, fish chased 

 by seals have been known to look for safety in the shallow 

 ripples at the edge of the strand and on sand-flats, as if aware 

 that their pursuers were even more incapable and helpless than 

 themselves when partly ashore. The seals always seek protec- 

 tion from their own enemies in deep water and fish there by 

 preference. 



The common seal of our harbours appears to be as little 

 adventurous and seafaring as any of its kind, keeping near the 

 land at all times and hunting inlets and the mouths of rivers 

 which it enters with the incoming tide, sometimes swimming 

 inland for one hundred miles or more between wooded banks 

 and farm-lands, where it may fish in still pools out of reach of 

 the ocean's growling. 



By nature it is gentle and affectionate, quickly becoming 

 tame if well treated and fond of being caressed and made much 

 of; a genial, well-meaning creature without much instinctive fear 

 of man and eager to make friends with any animal that will 



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