THE LARGER NORTH AMERICAN MAMMALS 



433 



bodies. Their only natural enemy appears to 

 be the killer whale. 



Between 1855 and 1870 the great numbers 

 of northern sea-elephants, combined with their 

 helplessness on shore and the value of their 

 oil, attracted numerous sealing and whaling 

 ships to the coast of Lower California. The 

 resulting slaughter reduced these animals from 

 swarming abundance to a few scattered herds. 

 Since then their numbers have steadily de- 

 creased, and there is a serious probability that 

 these strange and interesting habitants of the 

 sea will soon disappear forever. 



The small remaining herd on Guadalupe Is- 

 land is without protection and lies at the mercy 

 of wanton hunters. The people of the coastal 

 towns of California should exert themselves 

 to discourage hunters from killing these seals, 

 since the only hope for the preservation of this 

 noteworthy species lies in an awakened public 

 sentiment in its favor. Even within recent 

 years they have occasionally visited the Santa 

 Barbara Islands, California, and if the existing 

 survivors can be saved they may again become 

 resident there. 



HARBOR SEAL, OR LEOPARD SEAL 

 (Phoca vitulina) 



The harbor seal, one of the smallest of the 

 hair seals, attaining a length of only 5 or 6 

 feet, is one of the most widely distributed and 

 best known of its kind. It is a circumpolar 

 species, formerly ranging well south on the 

 European coast and to the Carolinas on the 

 American side of the Atlantic, though now 

 more restricted in its southern extension. On 

 the North Pacific it ranges south to the coast 

 of Japan on the Asiatic side and to Lower 

 California on the American side. 



Throughout its range the harbor seal haunts 

 the coast-line, frequenting rocky points, islets, 

 bays, harbors, and the lower courses of rivers. 

 It commonly frequents the sandy bars exposed 

 at low tide about the mouths of rivers, and has 

 been known to ascend the St. Lawrence to Lake 

 Champlain and Lake Ontario, and the Yukon 

 to several hundred miles above its mouth. It 

 is still a common and well-known animal on 

 the coast of Maine and eastern Canada and 

 about many harbors on the Pacific coast. It 

 appears to be a non-migratory species and in 

 northern waters frequents the pack ice along 

 shore in winter. Where the pack is unbroken, 

 the seal makes breathing holes through the ice, 

 which it visits at intervals, and where it is 

 hunted by the Eskimos. 



It is not polygamous and is not so strongly 

 gregarious as some of the other seals. That 

 it has some social instinct is evident, however, 

 since it commonly gathers in small herds on 

 the same sand spits, rocky points, and islets. 

 The young are born in early spring and at first 

 are entirely covered with a woolly white coat. 

 The mother is devoted to the "pup" and shows 

 the deepest anxiety if danger threatens. 



The flesh and blubber of this seal are highly 

 prized by the Eskimos as the most palatable of 



all the seals, and the skin is valued for cloth- 

 ing and for making strong rawhide lines used 

 for nets and other purposes. On the Alaskan 

 coast of Bering Sea in fall the Eskimos cap- 

 ture many seals in nets set off rocky points, 

 just as gill nets are set in the same places in 

 spring for salmon. 



Owing to the presence of this seal along so 

 many inhabited coasts, much has been written 

 concerning its habits, especially as observed 

 about the shores of the British Isles. Where 

 not disturbed it shows little fear and will swim 

 about boats or ships, raising its head high out 

 of water and gazing steadily with large in- 

 telligent eyes at the object of its curiosity; but 

 when hunted it becomes exceedingly shy and 

 wary. All who have held the harbor seal in 

 captivity agree in praising its intelligence. It 

 becomes very docile, often learning a variety 

 of amusing tricks, and develops great affection 

 for its keeper. 



The small size of this seal and its limited 

 numbers are elements which save it from ex- 

 tensive commercial hunting and may preserve 

 it far into the future to add life and interest 

 to many a rocky coast. 



HARP SEAL, SADDLE-BACK, OR 



GREENLAND SEAL (Phoca 



groenlandica) 



The black head, gray body, and large dorsal 

 ring of the male harp seal are strongly dis- 

 tinctive markings in a group generally char- 

 acterized by plain dull colors. The harp seal 

 is a large species, the old males weighing from 

 600 to 800 pounds. 



It is nearly circumpolar in distribution, but 

 its area of greatest abundance extends from 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Greenland, and 

 thence eastward in that part of the Arctic 

 Ocean lying north of Europe and western Si- 

 beria. Its reported presence in the Arctic basin 

 north of Bering Straits or along the coasts to 

 the southward is yet to be confirmed. It is an 

 offshore species, migrating southward with the 

 ice pack in fall to the coast of Newfoundland 

 and returning northward with the pack after 

 the breeding season in spring. For a day or 

 two during the fall migration, when these seals 

 are passing certain points on the coast of Lab- 

 rador, the sea is said to be thickly dotted with 

 their heads as far as the eye can reach, all 

 moving steadily southward. 



The harp seal is extremely gregarious and 

 gathers on the pack ice well offshore during 

 March and April to breed. The main breeding 

 grounds are off Newfoundland and off Jan 

 Mayen Land in the Arctic. During the breed- 

 ing season, in the days of their abundance, they 

 gathered in enormous closely packed herds, 

 sometimes containing several hundred thou- 

 sand animals and covering the ice for miles. 



From all accounts it is evident that originally 

 there were millions of these animals in the 

 North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. Their gre- 

 garious habits made them an easy prey, and 

 the value of their skins and blubber formed 



