58 NATTJEAL SlSTOEY OF AQCTATiO ANIMALS. 



Lilljeborg, but unfortunately for English rciiders the first of these histories is written in Danisli 

 and the other in Swedish. It has, however, been noticed quite fully by Bell, Macgillivray, and 

 other British authors, while lesser and more fragmentary accounts of it are abundant. On the New 

 England coast, as elsewhere, it is chiefly observed about rocky islands and shores, at the mouths 

 of rivers and in sheltered bays, where it is always an object of interest. Although ranging far 

 into the arctic regions, it is everywhere said to be a sedentary or non-migratory species, being 

 resident throughout the year at all points of its extended habitat. Unlike most of the other 

 species, it is strictly confined to the shores, never resorting to the ice-floes, and is consequently 

 never met with far out at sea, nor does it habitually associate with other species. On the coast of 

 Newfoundland, where it is more abundant and better known than at more southerly points, it is 

 said to bring forth its young during the last two weeks of May and the early part of June, resorting 

 for this purpose to the rocky points and outlying ledges along the shore. It is said to be very 

 common along the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and of Newfoundland in summer, or during 

 the period when the shores are free from ice, but in winter leaves the ice-bound coast for the re- 

 moter islands in the open sea. It is at all times watchful, and takes great care to keep out of reach 

 of guns. Still, many are surprised while basking on the rocks, and fall victims to the seal-hunters, 

 while considerable numbers of the young are captured in the seal-nets. They are described as very 

 sagacious, and as possessing great parental affection. Mr. Carroll states that when an old one is 

 found on the rocks with its young it will seize the latter and convey it in its mouth so quickly to 

 the water that there is not time to shoot it; or, if the young one be too large to be thus removed, it 

 will entice it upon its back and plunge with it into the sea. The same writer informs us that this 

 species is a great annoyance to the salmon-fishers, boldly taking the salmon from one end of the 

 net while the fisherman is working at the other end. It is also troublesome in other ways, since, 

 whenever the old ones get entangled in the strong seal-nets, they are able to cut themselves free, a 

 feat it is said no other Seal known in Newfoundland will do. 



This species is known to the inhabitants of Newfoundland as the "Native Seal," in conse- 

 quence of its being the only species found there the whole year. The young are there also called 

 "Eangers," and when two or three years old — at which age they are believed to bring forth their 

 first young — receive the name of "Dotards." Here, as well as in Greenland, the skins of this 

 species are more valued than those of any other species, owing to their beautifully variegated 

 markings, and are especially valued for covering trunks and the manufacture of coats, caps, and 

 gloves.^ Mr. Brown informs us that the natives of the eastern coast of Greenland prize them highly 

 "as material for the women's breeches," and adds "that no more acceptable present can be given 

 to a Greenland damsel than a skin of the ' Kassigiak,' as this species is there called." The Green- 

 landers also consider its flesh as "the most palatable of all 'seal-beef'".^ 



According to Mr. Eeeks, the period of gestation is about nine months, the union of the sexes 

 occurring, according to the testimony of the Newfoundlanders, in September.^ Only rarely does 

 the female give birth to more than a single young. This agrees with what is stated by Bell and 

 other English authors respecting its season of procreation. 



Eespecting its general history, I find the following from the pen of Mr. John Cordeaux, who, 

 in writing of this species, as observed by him in British waters, says: "The Seal {Phoca vifulina) 

 is not uncommon on that part of the Lincolnshire coast adjoining the Wash. This immense 

 estuary, lying between Lincolnshire and NorfoUi:, is in great part occupied witli large and dangerous 



'Cakroll, Mioiiabl: Seal and Herring Fisheries of Newfoundland, 1873, pp. 10, 11. 

 °Brown, Egbert, in Proceedings of tlie Zoological Society of London, 1868, p. 413 

 'Eeeks, Hkney: Zoologist, 2d ser., vol. Vi, 1871, p. 2541. 



