THE HAEBOE SEAL: EOOjSIOMIC IMPOETANGE. 61 



not confiued to the Newfoundland representative of the species, as shown by the following incident 

 related by the writer last quoted. "On a sunny noon in the autumn of 1868/' says this observer, 

 "1 observed a Seal, not far from the same place, with a salmon in his moulh, which he forced 

 through the meshes of a stake net. The struggling salmon, whose head was in the jaws of the 

 Seal, struck the water violently with his tail, which gleamed like a lustre in the lessening ray. 

 The Seal rose and sank alternately, keeping seaward to escape Eley's cartridges from the shore. 

 When above the water he shortened the silver bar, which continued to lash his sides long after its 

 thickest part had disappeared, by rising to his perpendicular, as if to allow the precious metal by 

 its own weight to slip into his crucible. The Seal evidently swallowed above, and masticated 

 below, water — the process lasting about twelve minutes, during which the Seal had travelled a full 

 half mile." 



In their raids upon the nets of the fishermen thej^ become sometimes themselves the victims, 

 being in this way frequently taken along our own coast as well as elsewhere. They are, hovTcver, at 

 all times unwelcome visitors. DeKay states that formerly they were taken almost every year in 

 the "fyke-nets" in the Passaic Eiver, greatly to the disgust of the fishermen, the Seals when 

 captured making an obstinate resistance and doing much injury to the nets. Their accidental 

 capture in this way often affords a record of their presence at localities they are not commonly 

 supposed to frequent, as in the Chesapeake Bay, and at even more southerly localities on the 

 eastern coast of the United States. 



Owing to the difficulty of capturing this species, and its comparativelj' small numbers, it is of 

 little commercial importance, although the oil it yields is of excellent quality, and its skins are of 

 special value for articles of dress, and other purposes, in consequence of their beautifully variegated 

 tints. Though not a few are taken in strong seal-nets, they are usually captured by means of the 

 rifle or heavy sealing gun. On rare occasions they are surprised on shore at so great a distance 

 from water that they are overtaken and killed by a blow on the head with a club. Like other 

 species of the seal family, the Harbor seal is very tenacious of life, and must be struck in a vital 

 part by either ball or heavy shot, in order to kill it on the spot. Says Mr. Eeeks, "I have been 

 often amused at published accounts of Seals shot in the Thames or elsewhere, but which 'sank 

 immediately.' What Seal or other amphibious animal would not do so if 'tickled' with the greater 

 part of, perhaps, an ounce of No. 5 shot?" He adds that it is only in the spring of the year that 

 this seal will "float" when killed in the water, but says that he has never seen a Seal ''so poor, 

 which, if killed dead on the spot, would not have floated from five to ten seconds," or long enough 

 to give "ample time for rowing alongside," supposing the animal to have been killed by shot, and 

 the boat to contain "two hands." The oil of this species, according to the same writer, sells 

 in Newfoundland for fifty to seventy-five cents a gallon, while the skins are worth one dollar each. 

 Mr. Carroll gives the weight of the skin and blubber of a full-grown individual as ranging from 

 eighty to one hundred pounds, while that of a young one averages, at ten weeks old, thirty to 

 thirty -five pounds. The flesh of the young, the same writer quaintly says, is "as pleasant to the 

 taste as that of any description of salt-water bird." Its flesh, as already stated, is esteemed by the 

 Greenlanders above that of any other species. Pew statistics relating to the capture of this species 

 are available, but the number taken is small in comparison with the "catch" of other species; 

 particularly of the Harp or Greenland Seal. Dr. Eink states that only from one thousand to two 

 thousand are annually taken in Greenland, which is about one to two per cent, of the total catch. 

 They are hunted to a considerable extent, however, wherever they occur in numbers. 



The Harbor Seal received this name from its predilection for bays, inlets, estuaries, and fjords. 



