SEALS AND SEAL SHOOTING 129 



to fade, and they have not the same clearness of 

 outline. A few bring forth young at this age, 

 but very rarely. Fourth year: At this age one 

 may say that they have attained almost their full 

 size. The two peculiar stripes on the back, from 

 which I believe they derive their name, as they re- 

 semble a harp in shape, begin to appear, the 

 other spots disappear gradually in proportion as 

 these stripes become more distinct and perfect, 

 until such time, probably at the age of nine or 

 ten years, when these two bars and part of the 

 back of the head and nose alone are black, 

 all the rest being pure white. After nour- 

 ishing their young for a period of about 

 three weeks, the latter are left to their 

 own resources, and strange to say, they do 

 not seem to take readily to the water. About 

 this time the females have lost the immense coat 

 of fat they had before giving birth to their: young 

 and take to the water to feed for a short time, 

 after which they return to the ice at intervals, 

 but by the 20th of March again put in an appear- 

 ance near the shore and feed voraciously. Their 

 chief food is caplin or herring, but nothing 

 comes amiss, sculpins, flounders, shrimps and 

 other small fry being swallowed indiscriminately. 

 I have also found in them the remains of salmon 

 and Norwegian haddock, sebastis Norwegians. 

 They do not all leave the ice at the same 

 time, some of them remaining on it till the middle 



