194 CARNIVOEA. 



migration of the males, with the exception of a few aged 

 males, is unknown. 



The Hudson's Bay Company also take a small 

 quantity of skins from Vancouver Island, about 800 to 

 1,000 annually. The above-mentioned schooners cap- 

 ture now about 30,000 to 50,000 skins. 



The price of the skin of this Seal is about 20 per cent. 

 less than that of the Alaska. In 1891 it was 30s. to 

 80s. 



The shore-taken skins are nearly always of poor 

 quality, and out of season. The other catches are 

 better, but the flanks are less thickly furred than in the 

 Alaska Seal, owing probably to their being females. 



A few skins are imported dried by the Hudson's Bay 

 Company and other traders. These are generally 

 bought by the Eussians for use in the hair, that is, with 

 the hair unremoved, the silvery colour of the small 

 skins being very beautiful, and much appreciated for 

 gentlemen's coat-collars. About twenty-five years ago, 

 when the salted Alaska skins were monopolized, many 

 Victoria skins were imported in the dry state at a much 

 lower price, and proved a source of profit, although dry 

 skins require a special process before unhairing. 



Most of the skins taken are those of the females ; 

 they take a much better dye than those of the males, 

 but they are narrower at the head. The only males 

 taken are a few " wigs " or old bulls of very large size, 

 but no bachelor or adult males seem to be taken in the 

 open sea. 



The colour of the Victoria Seal is bright grizzly or 

 silvery, with a paler belly, and with a red mark at the 

 base of each fore flipper. The few males taken are of a 

 4eep grizzly colour. The throat of the female is light, 

 and the chin and neck yellowish. The nose is dark. 



