SEALS AND WHALES OF THE BRLTLSH SEAS. 23 



the Sound of Harris, on May 2nd, 1870. They took to the water, but as 

 they " kept close in, and often rushed past within a few feet " of where he 

 and his companion were standing, they had an excellent view of them, and 

 " the large splashy-looking dark marks on either side of the back " were 

 distinctly visible. Although essentially an Arctic species, this animal has a 

 very wide geographical range, which, added to its migratory habits, renders 

 it not at all improbable that individuals occasionally wander to our shores. 



This species is a native of the Arctic Ocean, and ranges from the N.E. 

 coast of America to the Kara Sea (where it was found by the Swedish Arctic 

 Expedition in 1875), changing its quarters according to season.* It is this 

 species which constitutes the chief object of pursuit in the northern Seal- 

 fishery, and the season chosen for the attack is when they visit the ice for 

 the purpose of producing their young ones. Dr. Brown says, " They take 

 to the ice, to bring forth their young, generally between the middle of March 

 and the middle of April, according to the state of the season, &c., the most 

 common time being about the end of March. At this time they can be seen 

 literally covering the frozen waste, with the aid of a telescope, from the 

 'crow's-nest,' at the main royal mast-head, and have on such occasions been 

 calculated to number upwards of half a million of males and females."t The 

 young, when born, are pure white, which changes to a yellow tint. At about 

 14 days old they begin to take to the water, and at the age of a month are 

 capable of taking care of themselves : they then assume a spotted coat, which 

 changes gradually to the adult markings, which are perfected in about three 

 years. The adult male is about five feet long, the body generally of a tawny 



* Ph. grcenlandica was the only Seal met with by the Austrian Arctic Expedition, in the Tegelhoff 

 n August, 1873, the ship then drifting in the ice in lat. 79° 31', long. 61° 43'. Subsequently both this 

 species and Ph. barbata were met with about North lat. 81°. 



+ 'Seals of Greenland.' Reprinted in 'Manual aitd Instncctions for the Arctic Expedition, 

 187s,' p. 47- 



