HABITS. 591 



first week of July, when sailing down the Deeps along the edge 

 of the Knock, we saw several Seals ; some on the bank ; others 

 with their bodies bent like a bow, the h^ad and hind feet only 

 out of the water. They varied greatly in size, also in color, 

 hardly any two being marked alike ; one had the head and face 

 dark colored, wearing the color like a mask; in others'tbe upper 

 parts were light gray ; others looked dark above and light beloAv, 



and some dark altogether The female has one young 



one in the year; and as these banks are covered at flood, the 

 cub, when born, must make an early acquaintance Avith the 

 water. In most of the Phociclw the young one is at first covered 

 with a sort of wool, the second or hairy dress being gradually 

 acquired ; and until this is the case it does not go into the water. 

 This, however, does not ai)pear to be the case with the common 

 Seal, for Mr. L. Lloyd says (I believe in his ' Game Birds and 

 Wild Fowl of Norway and Sweden,' but I have not the book to 

 refer to) that the cub of the common species, whilst still in its 

 mother's womb, casts this wooly covering ; and when ushered 

 into the world has acquired its second or i)roper dress. * If this 

 is the case, it fully accounts for the cub being able to bear im- 

 mersion from the hour of its birth. The Seal, if lying undis- 

 turbed and at rest, can remain for hours without coming to the 

 surface." t 



I am informed by competent observers that on the coast of 

 Maine they assemble in a similar manner on sand bars, but take 

 to the water before they can be closely approached. 



Mr, Kumlien (in his MS. notes) observes: "The so called 

 * Fresh- water Seal' of the whalemen is one of the rarer species 

 in the waters of Cumberland Sound. They are mostly met with 

 far ui) in the fjords, and in the fresh water streams and ponds, 

 where they go after salmon. They are rather difficult to cap- 

 ture, as at the season when they are commonly met with they 

 have so little blubber that they sink when shot. . . . The 

 adult males often engage in severe combats with each other. 

 I have seen skins so scratched that they were nearly worthless. 

 In fact, the Eskimo consider a 'Kassiarsoak' (a very large 



* A statement to this effect is also made by Mr. Carroll, but Mr. Robert 

 Brown affirms, on the authority of Captain McDonald, that in the Western 

 Isles of Scotland the young are "born pure white, with curly hair, like the 

 young of Pagomys foetidus, but within three days of its birth begins to take 

 dark colors on the snout and tips of the flippers." Proc. Zoiil. Soc. Zond., 

 1868, p. 413. 



t Zoologist, 2d ser., vol. vii, 1872, pp. 3203, 3204. 



