HAIR SEALS OR SEA DOGS. 215 



posed ice floes in the open sea. They are very gregarious, 

 always assembling in immense herds. Some idea of their 

 abundance a few decades ago is given in the estimates 

 printed on another page of the catch in 1886; in that 

 year a single steamer secured 22,000 skins, valued at $2.50 

 each, in nine days. 



At the present time, the total number of Greenland 

 Seals taken annually in the Jan-Mayen seas, is probably 

 30,000, and the yearly catch in the Newfoundland dis- 

 trict is about three times that number. Unlike the Ringed 

 Seals, and the Bearded Seals, the Greenland Seals do not 

 make breathing or blow holes in the ice. This is prob- 

 ably the reason why they frequent the floes in preference 

 to the stretches of unbroken ice. Off the coast of New- 

 foundland the young are born early in March, and in the 

 Jan-Mayen district a few weeks later. 



The skins of "Harps" are manufactured into leather 

 of the finest quality, and lower grades of leather are pro- 

 duced from the "Spots." The "White-coat skins are dyed 

 black or brown, and under the name of "Wool-seals" are 

 sold to furriers by \vhom they are worked up into muffs, 

 collars, capes and other articles of fur wear. The bulk of 

 the skins are sent to London for sale. 



The Crested or Hooded Seal, also known as the blad- 

 der-nose seal, because the males have an appendage on 

 the nose which they are able to distend at pleasure, is 

 the boldest and fiercest of all True Seals. It is about the 

 same size as the Grey Seal ; the full-grown males measur- 

 ing from seven and a half to eight feet in length. This 

 species can easily be distinguished from all others by the 

 peculiar casque-like prominence crowning the forepart 

 of the head. It has the same migratory habits as the 

 Greenland Seal, whose habitat it shares ; and, like the lat- 

 ter prefers the ice floes in the open sea to the neighbor- 

 hood of the land; but "Hoods" and "Harps" are never 

 found on the same floe. 



The young of the Crested Seal are born on the ice in 

 March; and the parents will often lose their lives in de- 

 fense of their offspring, rather than seek safety in flight. 



The ground color of the coat, after the second year, is 

 a blackish blue, becoming lighter on the flanks and the 

 nether parts. The head and limbs are uniformly black. 



