Ringed Seal 
meet it fairly. Yet men persist in shooting at them on every 
occasion, though a dead seal of this species is of little value, 
either to commerce or science, and the fishermen and duck hunter 
tell me that not one in every fifty that are killed is ever secured. 
The harm seals do to sea fishermen must be of little account, 
except on a few occasions, when they get into the habit of robbing 
nets; and as they have few enemies in this latitude, they might 
well be allowed to become familiar and common features of our 
beaches and summer resorts. Sharks and swordfish are about 
their worst enemies, and it is said that the seals are not safe 
from their attacks even when resting on floating ice far out of 
the water, for these great ravenous brutes of the sea have been 
seen to throw themselves half out of water on the edge of the 
ice and overbalance it sufficiently as to force the unfortunate 
seal to slide down its slippery surface within their reach. Along 
the rough Labrador coast and still farther north, the polar bears 
catch them in a somewhat similar manner; swimming well around 
to the leeward of the unsuspecting seal asleep on the _ ice-floe, 
they dive and make their hidden approach beneath the surface, 
only rising once or twice for breath before reaching the edge of 
the ice where they have effectually cut off the seal’s retreat to 
the water. 
Ringed Seal 
Phoca hispida Schreber 
Length. 4 feet. 
Description. Similar to the harbour seal, but more slender, with 
narrower head and longer limbs. Colour variable; often 
blackish above, darkest on the back, lighter on the sides, 
with large oval whitish spots, below yellowish-white, some-~ 
times lighter, irregularly mottled with black, sometimes marbled 
with light dark-centred spots. First toe always longer than 
the second. 
Range. Arctic seas south to the northern Atlantic and Pacific. 
Harp Seal 
Phoca grenlandica (Fabricius) 
Length. 95 feet. 
Descriplion. Build more slender, as in the last. Colour of adult 
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