POAETQUISSTNGS IN WINTER. 57 



tire was being hunted by an army of idlers, armed with 

 every conceivable weapon, from a Queen Anne musket 

 to a hickory club. 



Within historic times, seals do not appear to have 

 ever been abundant, and yet every one who has occa- 

 sion to be much about the water in winter has either 

 seen or heard of them. In going over my note-books I 

 find I have recorded in them the occurrence of seals at 

 Trenton, which is at the head of tide- water, in Decem- 

 ber, 1861 ; January, 1864; December, 1866 ; February, 

 1870; and December, 1877. If the newspapers did not 

 report the same seal more than once, there were five 

 taken in the river in the winter of 1878-79 ; and they 

 were more than usually abundant in the other rivers of 

 the state and along the coast. 



My impression is that during very cold winters they 

 are really much more abundant in the Delaware than is 

 supposed. Considering how small a chance there is of 

 their being seen when the river is choked with ice, I am 

 disposed to believe that an occasional pair or more come 

 up the river, even as high as Trenton, nearly one hun- 

 dred and fifty miles from the capes, every winter. 



On examination of old local histories I find reference 

 to the seals as not uncommon along our coasts, and as 

 frequently wandering far up the rivers. 



As the capture of a seal is usually noised abroad, I 

 have examined with some care the files of local news- 

 papers, for a period of fifty years, and not without some 

 rather interesting results. I have found no notice earlier 

 than November 20 or later than March 25, so it is fair- 

 ly safe to conclude that in the five months from Oc- 



3* 



