THE COMMON SEAL 

 about extraneous matters, so his place must be taken by another that 

 is more awake and fresher from the sea." 



Graceful and swift in his natural element the Seal is awkward when 

 ashore, though capable of jerking his body forward at some speed if 

 alarmed and making for the water. Seals are naturally inquisitive and 

 attracted by any unusual sound, and are even credited with a love of 



music. 



THE RINGED SEAL. 



Phoca hispida, Schreber. 

 Plate ij. 



This small Arctic Seal, the " Floe-rat " of the Seal hunters, usually 

 measures about 4^ feet from nose to tip of tail. 



The colour of the adult is dusky grey or brown above, curiously 

 marked with rings and irregular figures of yellowish white, the centres 

 of which are dark, the space round the eyes is dusky, the under parts 

 huffish white. 



The Ringed Seal peneti-ates far north among the ice of the circumpolar 

 regions and has been obtained up to or beyond lat. 82°. It is common 

 on the coasts of Greenland, Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, North Iceland, 

 and Northern Europe, while occasional stragglers reach the British coasts. 



The first recorded specimen occurred on the Norfolk coast in 1846; 

 this was purchased in the fish market of Norwich by Mr. J. H. Gurney 

 and later identified by Professor Flower. Mr. Millais mentions two 

 other examples, one killed at CoUieston, Aberdeenshire, in August 1897, 

 and a second taken in the salmon nets in Aberdeen Bay during the 

 summer of 1901. 



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