410 THE IIOODEI) OK CRESTED SEAL. 



Avliiskers and glaring eves, it luis at such times a very wild 

 and savage look. It is said to breed in February or 

 Marcli, and that tbe female has never more than a single 

 calf at a time. This, at its birth, as is the case in most 

 other species of Seals, has a wool-like covering, which is 

 described by Thienemann as of a yellowisli colour, but by 

 Fabricins as blue-grey, and about the stomach as white 

 {livklus ventre alho). 



Though the Bearded Seal is represented as a timid and 

 cautious animal, it is nevertheless very curious, and often 

 thereby gets itself into difficulties, as, for the purpose of 

 examining the boat of the hunter, it will approach so near 

 it as to be easily reached with the gun or even the 

 harpoon. It is highly esteemed by the Greenlander; for 

 though it does not yield much oil, yet its lard is looked on 

 by him as most delicious. It was from the skin of this 

 Seal and the Walrus, we are told, that the ancient Scan- 

 dinavians formed their ropes and cables, called by them 

 svardr and svarclreij), which were so strong that the 

 united efforts of sixty men were unable to break them. 



The Hooded or Crested Seal (Blds-Skdl, or bladder-seal; 

 Klajjpviytsa, Sw. ; Vhoca cristata, Gmel. ; Cystophora 

 cristata, Erxl.) is likewise an occasional visitor to the more 

 northern of the Scandinavian coasts, where it commonly 

 goes by the name of Kik-Nebb, or Kabbats-Kobbe, meaning 

 tlie capped seal ; but by the Lapps is called Avjor, or Fatte- 

 Nuorjo, that is the stomach-seal, because those people 

 liken its head and muzzle to the stomach of a rein-deer. 

 On the coast of Nordlanden (Norway) its singular look has 

 given rise, amongst the fishermen and others, to many 

 superstitious and fabulous stories. Klakkekallen, the name 

 by which he is there known, appears, according to these 

 men, in the form of a large and hairy black man, with 

 fingers so grown together as to resemble fins, and having 

 a cap on his head. He is rarely seen, they say, l)ut affirm 



