728 THE CARNIVORES 



are, indeed, many instances where these seals have followed their owners about like 

 a dog; and some where they have come back to a house after every effort had been 

 made to drive them away. 



Although the Greenland or, as it is often called, the harp, or saddle- 

 Greenland Seal 



backed seal, in its immature condition is not easy to distinguish from 



the common seal, in the case of adult males of the two species there is no sort of 

 difficulty in this respect, the peculiar coloration of the Greenland species being 

 amply sufficient. In the adult male, as shown in our illustration, the general color is 

 yellowish white or white; the nose and the fore part of the head to behind the eyes are 

 black; and there are very generally some black spots on the throat and chest. The 

 most characteristic mark is, however, the irregular crescentric band of black on each 

 side of the body, extending from the shoulders nearly to the tail; these bands being 

 generally widest where they unite in the middle line over the shoulders. They may 

 be interrupted posteriorly, but more generally join once more in front of the tail, 

 so as to enclose an ellipsoidal area. The length of the male is usually from five to 

 five and one-half feet, but may, it is said be as much as six feet. The female has 

 generally much the same coloration as the male when adult, but the black markings 

 are less distinct and may be wanting. The full coloration is not obtained till the 

 fifth year, and so different is the appearance of the animal at different stages of its 

 growth that the Greenlanders have distinct names for it according to age. The 

 white or yellowish-white woolly fur of the young is not changed for the hairy coat 

 till several weeks after birth. 



The Greenland seal, which can at most be regarded only as a very occasional 

 visitant to the British Isles, is essentially a northern species, ranging in the Atlantic 

 from Newfoundland and the North Sea to the Arctic regions, and also occurring in 

 the North Pacific. 



The migratory habits of this species have been already alluded to at 

 sufficient length ; the most noted breeding stations are Newfoundland 

 and the vicinity of Jan-Mayen, at which localities these animals may be seen in 

 enormous herds in the spring; but where they pass the remainder of the season is 

 not ascertained. In Greenland these seals visit the coasts both in the autumn and 

 in the spring; and it may be some of these herds that pass westward to Jan-Mayeu. 

 During their migrations the seals keep close to the coasts, and frequently enter the 

 bays and estuaries; but when settled at their breeding resorts they prefer exposed 

 ice floes in the open sea, never resorting to the shores, and being seldom met with 

 on the firm ice. Everywhere the Greenland seal is in the habit of assembling in 

 immense herds; and it is so abundant that its numbers probably exceed those of all 

 the other species put together. In consequence of this abundance, it is this species 

 which forms the main basis of the sealing trade of the northern seas. Unlike the 

 bearded and ringed seals, the Greenland seal never forms a breathing hole in the 

 ice; and this is doubtless the reason that it frequents the ice floes rather than the 

 continuous stretches of unbroken ice. Off the coast of Newfoundland the young 

 are born in the early part of March, but in the Jan-Mayen district not until the end 

 of that month. When assembled in their countless herds on the ice floes during the 

 breeding season, it is stated that their cry may be heard at a distance of several 



