THE COMMON SEAL. 339 



risks ; when hard pressed, they take their offspring in their fore-paws, 

 press it to the breast, and fling themselves into the water ; if flight is 

 difficult, the mother never deserts her child, but remains to share its 

 fate, whether it be captivity or death. 



The food of the seal is almost exclusively fish, and they work sad 

 havoc in salmon fisheries, as they occupy the mouths of the rivers and 

 catch the ascending fish. In some regions, therefore, they are hunted as 

 destroyers ; in others, they are hunted as the most valuable of animals. 

 The Greenlanders use every part of the seal, civilized men prize its 

 water-proof skin and its oil. The seal-fishery is a mere slaughter, espe- 

 cially as carried on by the professional seal-fishers. Another enemy is 

 the species of dolphin, Orcinus orca, which the Greenlanders call the 

 "Seal's Master"; and the terror of this foe makes the seals lay aside all 

 their fear of man, and they will come up on shore and crowd Hke dogs 

 around the fishermen, as if hoping to find protection. The Polar Bear, 

 too, is assiduous in capturing them. 



The Common Seal, Calloccpkalus vitidinus (Plate XXVI), is found 

 on our northern and eastern shores, and is the common seal of Europe. 

 It is not, however, very numerous south of Hudson's Bay ; a small 

 colony is said to have existed at Nahant, but usually only individuals 

 are seen in our waters. It is probable, however, that they were once 

 common in New York harbor, as the reef named Robbin's Reef derives 

 its name from the Dutch word for seal, " Robbe." 



This seal attains the length of five or six feet, and the female is larger 

 than the male. The head is round, the eye large and with a sagacious 

 expression, the ear marked only by a slight elevation, the neck short, the 

 body tapering from the shoulders to the tail, the fore-feet short, the hind- 

 feet broad. The hide is covered with stiff shining bristles over a thin 

 undercoat, the color is gray, with brown and black spots. 



It is found all through the North Atlantic, on the coasts of Spain, 

 France, England, Scandinavia and Iceland, in the Baltic, in the Sound 

 and Belt, as well as in the Gulf of Bothnia and Finland, in the Mediter- 

 ranean Sea, in the White Sea, and on all our Northern Coast. It has 

 been seen in the Gulf of Mexico, and even on the north coast of South 

 America. 



To the Esquimaux this seal is indispensable ; his food consists of its 

 flesh, his hut is lighted with its oil, its blood is formed into soup, its 

 sinews are used for fishing-lines and in countless other ways, its finer 



