THE HARBOR SEAL 



It is generally put down in the books, and 

 copied from one to another, that the young 

 of seals are born in rocky caves just out of 

 reach of the tide. Rocky caves are not abun- 

 dant on the Massachusetts coast, certainly not 

 in the neighborhood of Ipswich, and I am 

 inclined to think that the young must often 

 be born on sand-bars, or sandy or rocky is- 

 lands, for it is very unusual to find a seal 

 hauled up on the mainland on the closely pop- 

 ulated Massachusetts coast. If they are born 

 on sand-bars they must take to the water, or 

 the water will take to them within three or 

 four hours after their birth, and if, as is said, 

 they never enter the water in their milk 

 pelage, it follows that this must be shed very 

 soon after, or in some cases even before birth. 

 It is therefore possible, and indeed probable, 

 that I arrived on the scene soon after the 

 birth of the baby seal whose actions I have 

 just chronicled, and that I witnessed its first 

 imwilling bath. Like the silkie or seal in the 

 ballad of " The Great Silkie of Sule Skerrie," 

 the old one was trying to '' teach him for to 

 swim the faem." 



Wliile the baby seals are born in May and 

 June, courtship takes place in the latter part 



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