PHOCIDA^ 



603 



winter and north in summer. They are usually harmless, timid, 

 inoffensive animals, though, being polygamous, the old males often 

 fight desperately with each other, their skins being frequently 

 found covered with wounds and scars. They are greatly attached 

 to their young, and remarkably docile and easily trained when in 

 captivity ; indeed, although there would seem little in the structure 

 or habits of the Seal to fit it by nature to be a companion of man, 

 yet there is perhaps no wild animal which attaches itself so readily 

 to the person who takes care of and feeds it. Seals appear to 

 have much curiosity, and it is a very old and apparently well- 



Fio. 277. The Common Seal (Phoca vitulina). 



attested observation that they are strongly attracted by musical 

 sounds. Their sense of smell is very acute, and their voice varies 

 from a harsh bark or grunt to a plaintive bleat. Seals feed chiefly 

 on fish, of which they consume enormous quantities ; some, how- 

 ever, subsist largely on crustaceans, especially species of Gammams, 

 which swarm in the northern seas, also on molluscs, echinoderms, 

 and even occasionally sea-birds, which they seize when swimming 

 or floating on the water. 



Although the true Seals do not possess the beautiful under fur 

 ("seal-skin" of the furriers) which makes the skin of the Sea-Bears 

 so precious, yet their hides are still sufficiently valuable as articles 

 of commerce, together with the oil yielded by their fat, to subject 

 them to a devastating persecution, by which their numbers are 

 being continually diminished. 



