68 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



tober to April seals are to be found in the Delaware, 

 when found at all. The additional fact gathered is,' that 

 during the past fifty years seals have been seen or capt- 

 ured every year, in the state, and in thirty-two years of 

 the half century one to ten have been taken in the Del- 

 aware River. 



In the memorable winter of 1836, when the snow was 

 fully four feet in depth, on a level, there were seven 

 harpooned in the river, between Trenton and Borden- 

 town, a reach of but five miles ; and two were found to 

 have wandered up Crosswicks Creek to where that 

 stream makes a sudden bend at the base of the bluff, 

 and there, in a deep hole, they thrived admirably on the 

 bountiful supply of chubs and suckers that the deep 

 water contained. These two seals were seen by many 

 people, and various attempts to capture them alive were 

 made; but I cannot discover that they were ever taken. 

 Local gossip does not mention this fact, and there are 

 several old hunters still living who would probably have 

 heard of it, had some one been lucky enough to catch 

 or kill them. 



Although this occurrence of seals was beyond the 

 boundary by a mile or more, and the circumstances were 

 very unusual in every respect, still I think it but fair to 

 claim that the animal is to be included in the fauna of 

 my farm. Indeed, were it not that they are shut off by 

 a high canal bank, it is probable that whenever a winter 

 freshet occurred these animals would appear on the 

 meadows; but I am pained to admit I have never seen 

 one there. 



It must be confessed that the stray seal, as it appears 



