HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



177 



ready for battle, and will avail itself of any advantage 

 by turning upon and following its opponent. The 

 air-bladder, wliich is placed in the spot usually most 

 vulnerable, renders it difficult to kill, as it forms a 

 protection from the clubs of the sealers. This is one 

 of the largest of the Northern seals, varying, ac- 

 cording to different authorities, from 7 to 10 or even 

 12 feet in length. 



One other species of true seal, the Grey Seal, 

 Halichczriis gryphus (Fab.), claims a place in the 

 British Fauna. Dr. Brown says the Grey Seal ' ' has 

 no doubt been frequently confounded with other 



Ireland, however, appear to be its chief places of 

 resort on our shores; it has also been known to breed 

 on the Fern Islands. According to Bell, it inhabits 

 the "temperate northern seas rather than the Polar 

 waters," and is found in the North Sea, Baltic, Ice- 

 land, Scandinavia, Denmark, and North Germany. 

 Dr. Brown met with a specimen a little south of 

 Discoe Island, but can only speak of its claims to a 

 place in the Greenland Fauna as strongly probable. 

 Bell gives some interesting information with regard 

 to the habits of this species as observed in various 

 British stations, and calls attention to the remarkable 



Fig. 149. Hooded Seal {Cystcphora cn'stafa, 'Ei-xleleii). 



species, particularly Pit. barbata and F. grcejtlajtdica." 

 Such has undoubtedly been the case, and a specimen 

 in the British Museum, long regarded as PIi. baj-bafa, 

 has been referred to this species. There is, I believe, 

 no sufficient evidence that P/i. barbata has ever 

 occurred on the British coast ; but so imperfect even 

 now is our acquaintance with the seals which fre- 

 quent our shores, that it may even yet be found. 



The Grey Seal has been found on various parts of 

 the coast, from Shetland to the Isle of Wight ; the 

 Shetland Isles, the Hebrides, and the west coast of 



fact, that whereas in this country it produces its young 

 in the months of October and November, on the 

 Continent this is always said to take place in February ; 

 he suggests, to account for this singular discrepancy, 

 that in our milder climate pairing takes place much 

 earlier than in Scandinavia. The young, which are 

 born white, are suckled for about a fortnight ; the 

 first coat is shed before they take to the water, which 

 is not for some weeks after birth. The colour varies 

 with age, sex, and season, so much, that it is not of 

 great service in their identification, their large size 



