622 PIIOCA FCETIDA RINGED SEAL. 



tlie new hair, but so short as not to be perceptible except on 

 close examination, yet showing the exact .location and distribu- 

 tion of the dark and light markings ; the skin at this time is 

 very black and often much scratched, probably by the mother 

 in trying to make the young one shift for itself. 



" I often examined the stomachs of young ones, as well as of 

 adults, but till after they had begun shedding the white coat, 

 and were in all probability twenty-five to thirty days old, I 

 found nothing but the mother's milk. After they begin to shift 

 for th-mselves their food, for a time at least, consists of Gam- 

 onari of different species. 



"Before the young begin to shed the white coat they are 

 from 23 to 36 inches from the nose to end of flippers ; the aver- 

 age the season through, from a good series of measurements, was 

 about 30 inches 



"They weigh at birth from four to six and one-half pounds, 

 but the young grow at an astounding rate, becoming exceed- 

 ingly fat iu a few days. The blubber on the young a few days 

 old is almost w^hite and thickly interspersed with blood-ves- 

 sels ; it is not fit to burn. 



"There is usually but one young at a birth, still twins are 

 not of rare occurrence, and one instance came under my ob- 

 servation where there were triplets, but they were small, and 

 two of them would probably not have lived had they been born. 



" The season for hunting the young at latitude 67 north be- 

 gins about the middle of March and continues until the latter 

 part of Aj)ril. The first two weeks of April are the most pro- 

 ductive, as later the hair is apt to be very loose, and many 

 even have large bare patches on them. When the season fairly 

 opens the Eskimo hunter leaves the winter encampment with 

 his family and dog team for some favorite resort of this Seal ; 

 he soon constructs his snow hut and is as well settled as if it had 

 been his habitation for years ; for the Seals he catches bring 

 him and his family food and fuel, and snow to melt for water 

 is always plenty, so that his wants are easily suxDplied, and he 

 is contented and happy. 



" The manner of hunting the young Seal is to allow a dog to 

 run on ahead of the hunter, but having a strong Seal-skin line 

 about his neck, which the Eskimo does not let go of. The dog 

 scents the Seal in its excavation, which could not have been de- 

 tected from the outside by the eye, and the hunter by a vigor- 

 ous jumj) breaks down the cover before the young Seal can 



