THE HOODED SEAL: DISTRIBUTION. }9 



W 



other pelagic species, stragglers are sometimes met with far ID tin- southward of the usual range 

 (.1 tli.' species. On the North Ameriean coast it appears to be of uncommon occurrence south ut the 

 |)oiiit already mentioned, as it is said by Gilpin 1 to be "u rare visitor to the shores of No\a s.-otia." 

 Like the Harp Seal, it appears also to be regularly migratory, but owing to its much smaller numbers 

 and less eommereial importance, its inovments are not so well known. Carroll states that it visits 

 the coast ut Newfoundland at the same time as the Harp Seal, or about the 2oth of February, the 

 t line, however, varying with the state of the weather. He further states that Hooded Seals always 

 keep to the eastward of the Harp Seals, amongst the heavy ice; also that they are quite numerons 

 in spring in the (lull of Saint Lawrence, where "many of them are killed by persons who reside 

 on Saint Paul's Island.' 1 - Dr. Packard states that it is not uncommonly, during the spring, killed 

 in considerable numbers by the sealers" along the coast of Labrador. 3 Kink says, " It is only occa- 

 sionally found along the greater part of the coast [of Greenland], but visits the very limited tract 

 between <MP and (l N. lat., in great numbers, most probably in coming from and returning to the 

 east side of Greenland. The first time it visits us is from about May 20 till the end of June, dur- 

 ing which it yields a very luciative catch." 4 Robert Brown observes, " With regard to the favorite 

 localities of this species ot Seal, 1'ranz and the much more accurate Fabricins disagree the former 

 affirming that they are found mostly on great ice islands where they sleep in an unguarded manner, 

 while the lat ti-r states that they delight in the high seas, visiting the land in April, May, and June. 

 This appears contradictory and confusing; but in reality both authors are right, though not in an 

 exclusive sense." Again he says: '-This Seal is not common anywhere. On the shores of Green- 

 land it is chiefly found l>eside large fields of ice, and comes to the coast, as was remarked by Fabri- 

 cins long ago, at certain times of the year. They are chiefly found in South Greenland, though it is 

 erroneous to say that they are exclusively confined to that section. I have seen them not uncom- 

 monly about Disco Bay, and have killed them in Meh ille Bay, in the most northerly i>ortion of 

 Baffin's Bay. They are principally killed in the district of Julianshaab, and then almost solely in 

 the most southern part, on the outermost islands, from about the 20th of May to the last of June; 

 but in this short time they supply a great portion ot the food of the natives and form a thiid of 

 the colony's yearly production. In the beginning of July the Klapmyds leaves, but retun.n in 

 August, when it is much emaciated. Then begins what the Danes in Greenland call the mnitjre. 

 KliiinnydseJ'angitt, or the ' leau-Klapmyds-catching,' which lasts from three to four weeks. Very 

 seldom is a Klapmyds to be got at other places, and especially at other times. The natives call a 

 Klapmyds found single up a fjord by the name of A'erimartnnt, the meaning of which is ' gone 

 after food.' They regularly frequent some small islands not far from Julianshaab, where a good 

 number are caught. After this they go farther north, but are lost sight of, and it is not known 

 where they go to (Rink, 1. c.). Those seen in North Greenland are mere stragglers, wandering from 

 the herd, and are not a continuation of the migrating flocks. Johannes (a very knowing man of 

 Jakohshavn) informed me that generally about the 12th of July a few are killed in Jakobsha\ n 

 Bay (lat. 09 13' N.). It is more pelagic in its habits than the other Seals, with the exception of 

 the Saddleback." 5 



I conclude the account of the geographical distribution ot the Hooded Seal in Baffin's Bay 

 with the following from Mr. Kumlien's account: 



1 Proceedings and Traiwat IIIOH Nova Scotian Institute of Natural Sciences, vol. iii. pt. 4, p. U84. 



"Seal and Herring Fisheries of Newfoundland, pp. 13, 14. 



J Proc. Host Soc.Nal. Ili*t.,vol. X, p. 5871. 



Dauiah Greenland, etc., 1877, p. IvV 



Proc. Zool. 8oc. Lond., I8ti8, pp. 43>. lit; : Man N'at. HUt., etc., Greenland. Mam., pp. 65, 66. 



