CHAPTER IV 



AT THE BREEDING GROUNDS OF THE GREY SEAL 



Standing out amongst the waters of the wide Atlantic 

 there lies a small rocky island where, every autumn, the grey 

 seals gather to rear their young. To many seamen the island 

 must be a familiar object, for it lies fair in the track of an 

 important trade route, and is a well-known and prominent 

 object from afar. Lying near the island are dangerous 

 sunken rocks, and not many years back it was proposed to 

 erect a beacon there, but the idea has not materialized, and 

 the rock is given over to the tribe of the grey seal. The seals 

 are absent, or almost so, during the months of spring and 

 summer, and it is not until September that they take up their 

 quarters on the island's rocks. 



In ushering its young into the world in late September, 

 or during the early days of October, the grey seal is almost 

 unique among the mammals of this hemisphere. Up to a 

 few years ago its numbers were steadily decreasing, and 

 it is probable that the seals would have been exterminated 

 by this time were it not for the fact that an Act of Parliament, 

 passed a few years back, makes it illegal to shoot the seals, 

 young or old, from October i to November 30. 



During the first week of November in the year of which 

 I write, fine clear weather prevailed along the Atlantic sea- 

 board — in marked distinction to the storms of wind and 

 rain experienced on the East coast — and the waters of the 

 ocean were untroubled by even the slightest swell. 



Before the first light of dawn appeared in the east I 

 started out on my way for the harbour, whence commences 

 the long sail that lay between me and the seals' rock. 



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