1228 The Harp Seal a Permanent Resident [December, 
close of the breeding season. In fact, authorities agree that its 
range, in these waters, is limited to the lower gulf, from Anti- 
costi, the Magdalens, and St. Paul’s island, outward; and that 
it is found here during the winter months only. 
In cruising about in the river and gulf during the summers of 
1881 and 1882, I saw many seals. Some were evidently the har- 
bor seal (Phoca vitulina), while others were too large for this spe- 
cies. On one occasion in particular, a stormy afternoon in July 
(July 19, 1881), not far below the mouth of the Saguenay, a 
large seal with a perfectly black head appeared alongside our 
yacht and rode over several waves before lost to view. Others of 
the same kind were seen off Portneuf and Manicougan, and be- 
tween Anticosti and Mingan. Mr. Napoleon A. Comeau, who 
lives on the north shore near the point where the river expands 
into the gulf, assured me that the seal in question was the harp, 
and that he had killed hundreds of them during a residence of 
more than twenty years on that coast. Mr. Comeau has since 
sent me, and I have now in my possession, nearly fifty skulls and 
several skins of harp seals killed between Manicougan shoals 
and Pt. des Monts. The greater number were shot in March and 
April, though some were taken in the middle of summer. During 
the present season (1884), he shot one June 16th and another 
September 8th, the latter containing a foetus 55™™ in length. 
Mr. Comeau has kindly furnished me with the following inter- 
esting notes: 
“ The harp or Greenland seal (Phoca granlandica) is the most 
abundant of all our seals, roving up and down the St. Lawrence 
in its migrations in immense numbers. It is eminently greg* 
rious, hundreds and even thousands being seen together. I my- 
self (in March) have observed one herd at Point des Monts that 
was more than a mile long; there must have been several thou- 
sand in it. They are to be met with at all seasons here, but are 
most numerous in winter, especially in December, January 4 
the early part of February, at which time they disappear *” 
resort to the ice-fields in the gulf for the purpose of depositing 
their young, which they begin to do about the 15th of peA 
As in the case of the harbor seal, the young are perfectly W% 
at birth and have a fine silky coat about an inch in length. 
killed soon after birth, or within two or three days, this fur is very 
fine; but if a longer time has elapsed, especially if the 
