372 THE BIRD WATCHER 
Probably, thereforeggt can catch fish in both. In 
regard to the female of the great seal, Dr. Edmond- 
stone says, “The skin is of a paler colour, more or 
less patched with darkish blue, and becomes /ighter 
with age. In two aged individuals, of different sexes, 
the one appears a pale grey, and the other black.” 
There were no patches whatever on the skin of my 
bottle-nosed seal, as I first called it, but a uniform 
“pale grey” describes it pretty well. I have called it 
a uniform silver, and so, indeed, it looked ; but pale 
grey and silver come pretty close to one another. 
At first I thought there was a brownish hue, but 
the more I looked, the more silvery it appeared to 
become. 
According to Dr. Edmondstone, the male and 
female of the great seal swim in a different way, for 
he says, “He swims with his nose on a level with 
the water and the back of his head elevated; the 
female with the whole head elevated, like the vitu- 
lina.” This, as far as I can remember, was not my 
experience. The large seal which I first saw, and 
which I have now little doubt was the female of 
the phoca barbaia, sometimes raised the head out of 
the water, and she may have swum with it so, occa- 
sionally and for a short time; but her characteristic 
way of swimming—as distinct from floating upright in 
the water—was with the whole head and nose just on 
a level with the surface, and in one line as nearly as 
possible. In this respect I did not remark any very 
particular difference between the two. The male, 
