BIRTH-PLACE OF SEAL-BABIES. 



189 



A IIAIiP-SEAL MOTHER AND IIER LITTLE ONE. 



great body move onward along the eastern coast of Newfoundland, and 

 thence outward to the Grand Banks, where they arrive about Christmas. 

 Here they rest for a month, and then they turn northward, slowly strug- 

 gling against the strong current that aided them so much in their south- 

 ward journey, until they reach the great ice-fields stretching from the 

 Labrador shore far eastward — a broad continent of ice. 



During the first half of March, on these great floating fields of ice, are 

 born thousands of seal-babies — only one in each family, to be sure, but 

 with plenty of play-fellows close by — all in soft woolly dress, white, or 

 white with a beautiful golden lustre. The Newfoundlanders call them 

 " white-coats." In a few weeks, however, they lose this soft covering, 

 and a gray, coarse fur takes its place. In this uniform they bear the 

 name of "ragged-jackets;" and it is not until two or three years later that 

 the full colors of the adult are gained, with the black cresccntic or harp- 

 like marks on the back which give them the name of " harps." 



The squealing and barking at one of these immense nurseries can be 

 heard for a very long distance. When the babies are very young, the 

 mothers leave them on the ice and go off in search of food, coming back fre- 

 quently to look after the little ones; and although there are thousands of 

 the small, white, squealing creatures, which to you and me would seem to 

 be precisely alike, and all are moving about more or less, the mother never 

 makes a mistake nor feeds any bleating baby until she has found her own. 

 If ice happens to pack around them, so that they cannot open holes or 

 get into the water, the whole army will laboriously travel by floundering 



