28 SEALS AND WHALES OF THE BRLTLSH SEAS 



in the spot usually most vulnerable, renders it difficult to kill, as it forms a 

 protection from the clubs of the sealers. This is one of the largest of the 

 Northern Seals, varying, according to different authorities, from 7 to 10 or 

 even 12 feet in length. The first toe of the fore flipper is the longest. 



THE GREY SEAL. 



One other species of true Seal, the Grey Seal, Halichcerus gryphus 

 (Fab,), claims a place in the British Fauna. Dr. Brown says the Grey Seal 

 " has no doubt been frequently confounded with other species, particularly 

 PJi. barbata and Pli. grccnlandicar Such has undoubtedly been the case, and 

 a specimen in the British Museum, long regarded as Pli. barbata, has been 

 referred to this species. There is, I believe, no sufficient evidence that 

 Pli. barbata has ever occurred on the British coast ; but so imperfect even 

 now is our acquaintance with the Seals which frequent our shores, that it may 

 even yet be found. As before mentioned, the bristles forming the " whiskers ' 

 of Ph. barbata, are simple flattened hairs, without the impressed pattern found 

 in the bristles of the known British species ; they are nearly the same 

 thickness throughout, and sharply curved near the end. 



The Grey Seal has been found on various parts of the coast, from Shetland 

 to the Isle of Wight ; the Orkney and Shetland Isles, the Hebrides, and 

 the west coast of Ireland, however, appear to be its chief places of resort 

 on our shores ; it has also been known to breed on the Fern Islands. 

 Haskier Island, off North Uist, has long been known as a favourite breeding- 

 place of this species. Captain Elwes, who visited this island on the 30th 

 June, 1868 ('Ibis,' 1869, p. 25), informed Mr. Harvie-Brown that, up to the 

 year 1858, an annual battue was held there in the month of November, when 



