ae. ee oe eae EO E 
Gie 
. quently seen them come to the surface wi 
1884.] in the St, Lawrence. 1229 
be fine, it falls off quickly and the true hair and color is assumed. 
When one year old the color is whitish underneath, with occa- 
sionally a few black spots, about the size of a ten cent piece, about 
the neck and breast. These spots are not always present, the 
color very often being uniform dirty white. On the back there is 
abroad streak of grayish or blackish color. In the second year 
there is a slight change. The markings are more numerous, and 
are never absent, the black spots ate also larger and more gener- 
ally distributed all over the body, and the color of the back is 
not quite so dark or uniform, Third year: most of the black 
spots having enlarged are merged into each other and form large 
irregular patches about the size of hen’s eggs or slightly larger. 
The color of these spots also begins to fade, and they have not 
the same clearness of outline. A few occasionally bring forth at 
this age, but it is very rare. By the fourth year they have 
attained nearly their full size, and the two peculiar stripes on the 
back, from which they derive their name (as it resembles a harp 
in shape), begin to appear;.the other spots disappear gradually 
in proportion as these stripes become more distinct and perfect, 
until at such time, probably at the age of nine or ten years, these 
two bars and part of the back of the head and nose only are 
black, all the rest being pure white. After nourishing their young 
for a period of about three weeks, they are left to their own 
resources, and strange to say do not seem to take to the water 
very readily. About this time the females have lost the immense 
coat of fat they had before giving birth to their young, and take 
to the water to feed for a short while, when they again ceum to 
the ice, at intervals ; but by the 2oth of March they again make 
i ir chief 
an appearance near the shore and feed voraciously, their ch 
amiss, sculpins, 
ctiminately, They do not all leave the ic 
some remaining on it till the middle of April. 
only one young at a birth, though i 
which have come under my OW? 
in one case I shot the mother contaimng 
of this species fight very savagely amongst themselves, frequently 
leaving scars and marks from their teeth and claws. 
veloped. I have fre- 
“Th b . hi hl de 
eir sense of smell is not very M§ FER fve or six yards of, 
