382 ARTICLE BY DK. J, A. ALLEN. 



The liouiG of tlie riiijied-seal is alinost exclusively the icy seas of 

 the north. It is essentially a littoral, or rather glacial, si)ecies, resort- 

 ing to the iceHoes to biing forth its young, but passing most of the year in 

 bays and fjords. It is a small species, attaining a length of about 5 

 feet and a weight of about 200 pounds, when adult. It is very impor- 

 tant to the Eskimos as a source of food aud clothing. It has, however, 

 never had much commercial importance, although the Scotch whalers 

 buy their skins (with the blubber attached) of the Eskimos of Cumber- 

 land Souud, to the number of a few thousand annually. 



3. Hakp-Skal, Phoca grovnJandica {Fiihr.). 



Jltthitat: North Atlantic, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the 

 North Sea northward to the Arctic Sea; also Bering Sea. 



The harp-seal, known also as the saddle-back, white- coat (when 

 young), Greenland seal, etc., is by far the most important commercially 

 of all the true seals, being the principal basis of the Newfoundland and 

 Jan Mayen seal fisheries. It is of medium size, having, when adult, a 

 length of 5 to feet, and a weight of 600 to 700 pounds, or a little more 

 when in prime condition. It is preeminently gregarious, migratory, and 

 pelagic. It is nowhere a permanent resident, and annually traverses a 

 wide breadth of latitude. Although often met with far out at sea, it 

 generally keeps near the edges of drifting ice. It appears never to re- 

 sort to the land, and is seldom found on firnr ice. 



About the beginning of March they assemble at their favorite breed- 

 ing stjitions, selectingfor this purpose immense ice fields 

 Habits of Harp Seal. ^^^. ^.^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^, . - ^^^^ known brtcdii 1 g grouuds are 



the ice jjacks off the eastern coast of Newfoundland and about the 



island of Jan Mayen. Off the Newfoundland coast the 



Breeding ground.. y^^^,,g. ^^^.g cMcfly bom betwecu the 5th and 10th of 



March; at the Jan Mayen breeding grounds between the 23d of March 

 and the 5th of April. The females take up their stations on the ice 

 very near each other, the young being thus sometimes born not more 

 than 3 feet apart. The males accompany the females to the breeding 

 stations and remain in the vicinity, congregating mostly in the open 

 pools between the ice floes. The mothers leave their young on the ice 

 to fish in the neighborhood for theii- own subsistence, but they frequently 

 "return to their young to suckle them. The young 

 ^Growth aud habits gxow very rapidly, and when three weeks old are said 

 " ^"^^' to be nearly half as large as the old ones. They have 



now attained their greatest ftitness; later they decrease in fatness, 

 while they continue to increase in general size. The young are said 

 not to voluntarily enter the water until at least twelve days old, and 

 that they requu*e four or five days practice before they acquire suffi- 

 cient strength and proficiency in swimming to enable them to care for 

 themselves. Alter they take to the water they congregate by them- 

 selves, and when they mount the ice assemble in large compact herds. 

 During the last century sealing was carried on from the shore in a 

 . ,, p ,f small way in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off the coast 

 of st/iiwrencfe and of Newfoundland. Early in the present century small 

 foundianT' "^ ^''^'^' vcsscls began to be employed and the sealing industry 

 rapidly increased in importance, and by the year 1820 

 the annual catch exceeded 200,000 seals. Erom 1830 to 1850 the annual 

 Newfoundland catch varied in different ycais fiom about 350,000 to 

 nearly 700,000, the largest recorded catches lieing about ()80,000, in tlio 

 yearsl83i, 1811, and 181U. In recent years the catch has varied from 



