216 CARNIVORA. 



hair with Avhich they are covered, before they take to 

 the water, and which corresponds to the fluff or down 

 on young birds. At this age the Whitecoat is about 

 three or four feet long ; the tail is short — about two 

 inches ; and it has two black spots over the eyes. At 

 this age it looks very docile. It is called the Wool Seal 

 by the Americans from the woolly nature of this 

 yellowish-white fur. At the age of four or six weeks, 

 the young Seal, which has hitherto been nourished by 

 its mother, begins to take to the water. It now loses 

 its fat ; the white fur begins to fall off, commencing at 

 the head ; the dark spots appear, and it increases 

 rapidly in weight, but the skin decreases in this respect. 

 As the long fur disappears, the animal gradually 

 changes into what is called the " small spot." At two 

 years old it has become a " middling spot " or 

 "bedlamite." 



Since the close time was established in 1876 by con- 

 vention l^etween the English, Norwegians, and Germans, 

 the Whitecoats taken are mostly large, and the fur con- 

 sequently not so thick ; but tliis respite is most bene- 

 ficial to the Seal, and more " spots " (the name given to 

 the older animals, which are spotted) are taken. The 

 close time ends on April 3rd, and the penalty for killing 

 Seals before this date is £500. If the later suggestions 

 of Captain Grey, the famous Arctic sealer, for extending 

 the close time be adopted, but few Whitecoats will be 

 taken, and a great number of the older Seals will have 

 to be shot with the rifle, as they will have taken to the 

 water. 



The Greenland Seal inhabits the Arctic Seas in the 

 neighbourhood of Jan May en Island, and Greenland, 

 and the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland. The 

 immense area over which this flsherv extends lies 



