THE HARBOR SEAL 



Every now and then the seals on the bar, 

 with a nervous, undulatory effort, shift their 

 position, and, if a boat approaches, they all 

 depart in a panic into the water, with the 

 cliunsy, violent motion suggestive of a sack- 

 race. Timid creatures they are, for they are 

 well aware, through sad experience, of the 

 bounty of three dollars that Massachusetts 

 placed on their heads,— or rather tails. This 

 bounty law was repealed in 1908, for the treas- 

 ury had been nearly depleted by some Penob- 

 scot Indians, who, by the skilful manipula- 

 tion of one or two seal-skins from Maine, were 

 able to present numerous tails to the select- 

 men of vai'ious (V)ast towns of Massachusetts. 

 In all, these Indians collected several thou- 

 sand dollars before they were detected. The 

 object of the boimty was to diminish or ex- 

 terminate the seals for the good of the fisher- 

 men, who, it was supposed, suffered from their 

 depredations among the fish. That seals are 

 great eaters of food-fish there can be no ques- 

 tion, but they doubtless eat also many useless 

 and perhaps harmful species. Occasionally a 

 seal may be seen with a fish in his mouth, but 

 as a rule the seals appear to swallow their 

 prey under water. I have seen one come up 



169 



