Ringed Seal 



meet it fairly. Yet men persist in shooting at them on every 

 occasion, though a dead seal of this species is of little value, 

 either to commerce or science, and the fishermen and duck hunter 

 tell me that not one in every fifty that are killed is ever secured. 

 The harm seals do to sea fishermen must be of little account, 

 except on a few occasions, v^hen they get into the habit of robbing 

 nets; and as they have few enemies in this latitude, they might 

 well be allowed to become familiar and common features of our 

 beaches and summer resorts. Sharks and swordfish are about 

 their worst enemies, and it is said that the seals are not safe 

 from their attacks even when resting on floating ice far out of 

 the water, for these great ravenous brutes of the sea have been 

 seen to throw themselves half out of water on the edge of the 

 ice and overbalance it sufficiently as to force the unfortunate 

 seal to slide down its slippery surface within their reach. Along 

 the rough Labrador coast and still farther north, the polar bears 

 catch them in a somewhat similar manner; swimming well around 

 to the leeward of the unsuspecting seal asleep on the ice-floe, 

 they dive and make their hidden approach beneath the surface, 

 only rising once or twice for breath before reaching the edge of 

 the ice where they have effectually cut off the seal's retreat to 

 the water. 



Ringed Seal 



Phoca hispida Schreber 



Length. 4 feet. 



Description. Similar to the harbour seal, but more slender, with 

 narrower head and longer limbs. Colour variable; often 

 blackish above, darkest on the back, lighter on the sides, 

 with large oval whitish spots, below yellowish-white, some- 

 times lighter, irregularly mottled with black, sometimes marbled 

 with light dark-centred spots. First toe always longer than 

 the second. 



Range. Arctic seas south to the northern Atlantic and Pacific. 



Harp Seal 



Phoca grcenlandica (Fabricius) 



Length. 5 feet. 



Description. Build more slender, as in the last. Colour of adult 



317 



