210 Carnivoea Pinnipedia. 



Eared Seals. They can remain under the water twenty 

 minutes, or more, without coming up to the surface to 

 breathe. 



Owing to their hind limbs being turned permanently 

 back, so as conjointly to form a sort of rudder, True Seals 

 move very slowly when out of water. They progress with 

 a kind of wriggling motion, made by pressing the palmer 

 surface of the forepaws on the ground either alternately 

 or simultaneously, and sliding the body forward in a suc- 

 cession of short jerks. 



Two of the species, the Greenland Seal and the Hooded 

 Seal, are migratory. In May, attended by their young, 

 they commence their northerly movements to the Green- 

 land seas, where they spend two or three months. In 

 September they begin a southerly migration to escape 

 the intense cold of the northern winter; one division 

 passing through the straits of Belle Isle to the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence, and the other along the east coast of New- 

 foundland. By the close of the year they reach the Great 

 Banks, which is their southern headquarters. Early in 

 February they again start northward to meet the ice 

 fields upon Avhich their young are brought forth in March. 



The appearance of the herds as they pass a given point 

 on their journey from the north is most imposing. Mr. 

 J. C. Stevenson says : ' ' The southern migration commences 

 soon after the frost sets in. A fisherman posted as a sen- 

 tinel on some headland commanding an extensive sea 

 view, will first notice small detachments, of from half a 

 dozen to a score of Seals each, passing at rather long in- 

 tervals ; the detachments gradually increase in frequency 

 and numbers, until they are seen in companies of a hun- 

 dred or more, closely following one another. After two 

 or three days the main body, consisting . of an uncount- 

 able crowd, will come into sight, and then for the greater 

 part of two days the sea as far as the eye can reach will 

 seem to be literally paved with the heads of the Seals. 



True Seals seldom stay on the land for long periods, 

 and even when basking in the sunshine on the beaches 

 and ice floes, they generally keep so near the water's 

 edge that it is difficult for the hunters to cut off their 

 retreat. i : i 



