642 PHOCA GRCENLAND1CA HARP SEAL. 



the whole year. Its very extended periodical migrations re- 

 late apparently to the selection of suitable conditions for the 

 production of its young, and occur with great regularity. 

 Where it spends portions of the year is not well known, while, 

 on the other hand, it may be found with the utmost certainty 

 at particular localities during the breeding season. Its most 

 noted breeding stations are the ice-floes to the eastward of 

 Newfoundland, and in the vicinity of Jan May en, at which lo- 

 calities they appear early in spring in immense herds. 



The Seals seen about the shores of Greenland in autumn and 

 early winter are supposed by most writers to pass the breeding 

 season in the seas to the eastward of Jan Mayen, but doubt- 

 less a very large proportion of the Seals of Hudson's Straits 

 and neighboring waters to the northward, if not also of Baf- 

 fin's Bay, really move southward along the Labrador coast to 

 the Newfoundland waters, since herds of migrating Seals are 

 regularly observed in autumn to pass in this direction; besides, 

 it is hard to conceive of any other origin for the immense num- 

 bers that resort to the ice-floes off the coast of Southern Lab- 

 rador and Newfoundland to bring forth their young. 



As has been long well known, the Greenland Seal visits the 

 shores of Greenland both in fall and spring. Dr. Sink states 

 that "It appears regularly along the southern part of the 

 coast in September, travelling in herds from south to north, be- 

 tween the islands, and at times resorting to the fjords 



In October and November the catch is most plentiful ; then it 

 decreases in December, grows scarce in January, and becomes 

 almost extinct in February." * Mr. Kumlieu states that they 

 "disappear from the Cumberland waters when the ice makes,'' 

 returning again in spring with the appearance of open water. 



Their passage southward along the Labrador coast occurs 

 before the ice forms, and during this journey they are said to 

 "hug the shore" and freely enter the gulfs and bays. They 

 appear first in small detachments of half a dozen to a score or 

 more of individuals ; these are soon followed by larger com- 

 panies, which increase in frequency and numbers; in a few 

 days they form one continuous procession, filling the sea as far 

 as the eye can reach. Floating with the Arctic current, their 

 progress is extremely rapid, and in one short week the whole 

 multitude has passed. Arriving at the Straits of Belleisle, the 

 great body are deflected eastward, but many enter the Straits 



* Danish Greenland, etc., p. 124. 



