SEALS AND WHALES OF THE BRLTLSH SEAS. 31 



the Seals resort to the rocks with their young ones, and that from forty to 

 one hundred, old and young, would be killed. This wholesale destruction 

 has been put a stop to, and as it is extremely shy and difficult to approach 

 at other seasons, it is to be hoped that this species may for some time escape 

 extermination in this favourite resort. 



According to Bell, this species inhabits the "temperate northern seas 

 rather than the Polar waters," and is found in the North Sea, Baltic, Iceland, 

 Scandinavia, Denmark, and North Germany. Dr. Brown met with a 

 specimen a little south of Discoe Island, but can only speak of its claims 

 to a place in the Greenland Fauna as strongly probable. Bell gives some 

 interesting information with regard to the habits of this species as observed 

 in various British stations, and calls attention to the remarkable fact, that 

 whereas in this country it produces its young in the months of October and 

 November, on the Continent this is always said to take place in February ; 

 he suggests, to account for this singular discrepancy, that in our milder 

 climate pairing takes place much earlier than in Scandinavia. The young, 

 which are born white, are suckled for about a fortnight ; the first coat is shed 

 before they take to the water, which is not for some weeks after birth. The 

 colour varies with age, sex, and season, so much, that it is not of great 

 service in their identification, their large size being the best external guide, 

 Lloyd, in his ' Game-birds and Wild-fowl of Sweden and Norway,' speaking 

 of this species, says that even should it somewhat resemble the Common 

 Seal in size and colour, as is at times the case, it may always be readily 

 distinguished from the latter by the greater length of its claws and the 

 superior breadth of its muzzle. The claws project considerably beyond the 

 ends of the toes, the first of which is the longest. The general colour of the 

 adult is greyish, tinged with yellow, and spotted and blotched with darker 

 grey ; the under parts lighter. The length of the adult varies from 7 to 

 10 feet. By the form of its skull and teeth it is readily distinguished, 



