242 PHOCIDiE. 



in Greenland many are annually killed, the average 

 yearly capture of this and the next species in the 

 Danish settlements amounting, according to Dr. R. 

 Brown, to upwards of seven hundred thousand. It is 

 also abundant on the shores of Northern Russia, Scan- 

 dinavia, Holland, and France, but is rare in the Baltic, 

 ft is said to occur occasionally in the Mediterranean, 

 but the common species in that sea is the Monk Seal 

 {Ph. monachus). The Seal found in the Caspian Sea was 

 regarded by Pallas as a variety of Ph. vitulina, but has 

 been separated by Nilsson as Ph. caspica^ and is con- 

 sidered by him to be more nearly allied to the next 

 species; it is still very imperfectly known. 



In our own islands the Common Seal is found all 

 round the coast in suitable places, but is much less abun- 

 dant than it formerly was, and has been quite banished 

 from many places where it was formerly well known. 

 It is common on many parts of the Irish coast, and is 

 very abundant among the Scotch islands, especially in 

 Shetland and Orkney. In Wales and Cornwall it is well 

 known, but it is now very rarely seen on the shores of 

 the southern and eastern counties of England. 



The habits of this species are not markedly different 

 from those of the rest of the genus. As already 

 observed, it is essentially a coast-loving species, not ex- 

 tending its range to the ice-fields of the open sea, and it 

 is particularly fond of sheltered sounds and bays, where 

 the water is not very deep, and fish are plentiful. An 

 excellent account of its manners, as observed in the 

 Hebrides, was given by the late Mr. J. Wilson in the 

 first volume of the " Magazine of Zoology and Botany." 

 He observes that the Seals leave the water every tide, 

 usually' selecting low shelving rocks for a resting-place, 

 and almost invariably such as are separated from the 



