SEALS AND SEAL SHOOTING 127 



they are comparatively tame and easily shot; 

 an ordinary duck load of number four or five shot 

 sufficing to kill them owing to their small size. 

 The last specimen I saw and killed was at St. 

 Pancras cove in August, 1887. It was about 

 three feet long, and weighed betwen seventy -five 

 and eighty pounds. Looking over some old records 

 I find I shot a female of this species with young in 

 March, 1875. The young had a white coat of fur 

 as in the Greenland and some other seals. The 

 mother had almost completed the period 01 gesta- 

 tion. In size it was smaller than a harbor seal. 

 Specimens of this variety were never at any time 

 numerous enough to be specially sought afte*, but 

 were killed while hunting other varieties or in 

 chance meetings. 



Harp %t&l (Jpljora (Sroenlanitra) 



The Harp or Greenland Seal (Phoca Groen- 

 landica) is the most abundant of all our seals, 

 roving up and down the St. Lawrence, in their 

 migrations, in immense numbers. It is known 

 under a variety of local names, such as Brasseuoc, 

 Pivelee, Bar re Noir, Barre Sale, Coeur Marque, 

 &c, but these different names are applied to one 

 and the same seal, according to its age and varia- 

 tion in color and markings. It is eminently 

 gregarious, hundreds and even thousands of 

 them being seen together. I have observed 

 one herd at Point des Monts more than a mile 



