FIELD BOOK OF MAMMALS 



with strongly contrasted and clearly outlined bands of yellow 

 to ochraceous yellow about neck, shoulder, and rump; some- 

 times rings are confluent; females less conspicuously marked 

 than males and having only obscure bands. This is not a 

 common Seal and is found sparingly about the Aleutian Islands 

 and coast of Alaska. 



Subgenus Pusa 



Ringed Seal. — Phoca hispida Schreber 



A medium- sized Seal quite like the Harbor Seal in general 

 appearance but colored differently and with different cranial 

 characters. First digit of fore-flipper longer than any of the 

 others. Upperparts dark brownish to blackish brown faintly 

 marked with small, irregular rings or blotches of yellowish; 

 underparts yellowish to strong ochraceous yellow. Circum- 

 polar in distribution, south to Labrador on Atlantic coast, 

 to Bering Sea on Pacific coast. 



Subgenus Pagophilus 



Greenland Seal; Harp Seal; Saddle-back Seal. — 

 Phoca groenlandica Erxleben 



Somewhat larger than the Harbor Seal — length up to 72 

 inches, weight 600-800 pounds for old males, females a quarter 

 smaller — pelage of male bright yellowish, marked with a 

 broad band of brown along side which crosses over shoulders 

 to meet its fellow from the other side; these bands may also 

 meet across lower back; dark brown on head and spots on 

 hind limbs. Females not so clearly marked with brown or 

 lacking brown completely. Young white. Found in cir- 

 cumpolar seas, south to Gulf of St. Lawrence. 



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The Harp Seal is much hunted for its oil, and with the 

 Hooded Seal forms the major part of the Seal catch of the 

 Newfoundland Seal fisheries. This Seal has a regular period 

 of migration and moves south when ice begins to close the 

 northern feeding grounds. About the end of September the 

 Harp Seal starts south and passes for upwards of nine hundred 

 miles to reach the Straits of Belle Isle where the stream of 



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