CHAPTER IV 

 THE GREAT GREY SEAL 



IT is always pleasing to find that intelligent care can 

 be brought to bear on the preservation of the rare 

 and interesting animals which still inhabit parts of these 

 British Islands, though it is not often that such care is 

 actually exercised. Mr. Lyell (a nephew of the great 

 geologist Sir Charles Lyell) in April 1914 introduced 

 a Bill into the House of Commons which is called the 

 Grey Seals (Protection) Bill. It came on for considera- 

 tion before the Standing Committee, was ordered to be 

 reported to the House without amendment, and has 

 now passed into law. 



The Great Grey Seal is a much bigger animal than 



the Common Seal, the two species being the only seals 



which can be properly called " British " at the present 



day, though occasionally the Harp Seal, or Greenland 



Seal, and the Bladder-nosed Seal are seen in British 



waters, and may emerge from those waters on to rocky 



shores or lonely sandbanks. The Great Grey Seal is 



called " Halichoerus grypus " by zoologists, whilst the 



Common Seal is known as " Phoca vitulina." The male 



of the former species grows to be as much as 10 feet 



in length, whilst that of the Common Seal rarely attains 



5 feet. Both these seals breed on the British coast. The 



Common Seal frequents the north circumpolar region, 



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