2o8 BRITISH MAMMALS 



crest, which really forms part of the septum, or division between 

 the air passages of the nostrils. This cartilage, added to the pos- 

 terior bony wall, serves to support twin bladders divided in the 

 middle by a groove indicating the line of the nose. These 

 bladders can be inflated and erected at will till they somewhat 

 resemble a policeman's helmet. When the creature is at rest 

 the hood almost hangs down on either side over the eyes and 

 cheeks in a series of folds. 



The length of the Hooded Seal varies from 8 ft. to 1 2 ft. The 

 body is long and robust. The colour in the newly-born woolly 

 young is the usual lemon-white. When this wool is lost, their 

 rather long hair is a grayish-yellow above and white below, and 

 the grayish-yellow parts are marked with spots and blotches- 

 of dark gray or black. As the seal grows older the yellowish- 

 gray of the upper parts deepens in colour into grayish-brown» 

 which, with the black markings, gives the upper surface of the 

 animal a hue of nearly uniform dark gray. 



The voice of the hooded seal is the usual barking and 

 whining. The young apparently are born in the month of April. 

 The polygamous males fight very much amongst themselves 

 in autumn during the breeding season. This seal is much more 

 pugnacious than those hitherto described, and will not only stay 

 to give battle to a human enemy, but will sometimes rush and 

 shuffle towards its opponent, attempting to bite him with its 

 canine tusks. They also attack their assailants with the fore 

 paws, striving to overbear them and knock them to the ground 

 preparatory to inflicting dangerous bites. 



The hooded seal has been killed off^ the coast of Suffolk and 

 of Eastern Scotland and in the Orkney Islands. It has also beea 

 observed ofi^ the west coast of Ireland. In former centuries its 

 appearance off^ the British coasts was not uncommon, and gene- 

 rally attracted attention owing to the extraordinary bladder or 

 hood. It was met with formerly off the west coast of France, 

 but its present range seems to be limited to the Arctic regions 

 and the coasts of Greenland, Spitzbergen, Norway, and New- 

 foundland. 



