EARLESS SEALS. 
i 39 
area. The length of the male is usually from 5 to 5J feet, but may, it is 
said, be as much as 6 feet. The female has generally much the same colora¬ 
tion as the male when adult, but the black markings are less distinct, and may be 
wanting. The full coloration is not obtained till the fifth year, and so different is 
the appearance of the animal at different stages of its growth that the Greenlanders 
have distinct names for it according to age. The white or yellowish white woolly 
fur of the young is not changed for the hairy coat till several weeks after birth. 
The Greenland seal, which can at most be regarded only as a very occasional 
visitant to the British Isles; is essentially a northern species, ranging in the 
Atlantic from Newfoundland and the North Sea to the Arctic regions, and 
also occurring in the North Pacific. 
Habits The migratory habits of this species have been already alluded 
to at sufficient length; the most noted breeding-stations are New¬ 
foundland and the vicinity of Jan-Mayen, at which localities these animals may be 
seen in enormous herds in the spring; but where they pass the remainder of the 
season is not ascertained. In Greenland these seals visit the coasts both in the 
autumn and in the spring; and it may be some of these herds that pass westwards 
to Jan-Mayen. During their migrations the seals keep close to the coasts, and 
frequently enter the bays and estuaries; but when settled at their breeding-resorts 
they prefer exposed ice-floes in the open sea, never resorting to the shores, and being 
seldom met with on the firm ice. Everywhere the Greenland seal is in the habit 
of assembling in immense herds; and it is so abundant that its numbers probably 
exceed those of all the other species put together. In consequence of this abund¬ 
ance, it is this species which forms the main basis of the sealing trade of the 
northern seas. Unlike the bearded and ringed seals, the Greenland seal never 
forms a breathing-hole in the ice; and this is doubtless the reason that it frequents 
the ice-floes rather than the continuous stretches of unbroken ice. Off* the coast 
of Newfoundland the young are born in the early part of March, but in the Jan- 
Mayen district not until the end of that month. When assembled in their count¬ 
less herds on the ice-floes during the breeding-season, it is stated that their cry 
may be heard at a distance of several miles, more especially if the ear be applied to 
the ice. As an indication of the enormous numbers in which these seals once 
existed, it may be mentioned that during the year 1866 a single steamer obtained 
22,000 seals in nine days; and it was not uncommon for a ship’s crew to kill from 
500 to 800 adults and 2000 young ones in a day. In Greenland the annual catch 
was estimated at 33,000, while that in Newfoundland used to exceed 500,000, and 
in the Jan-Mayen seas the total number killed each year was fully 30,000. 
Of the remaining members of the genus Phoca our notice must 
be very brief. It has been already mentioned how the ringed seal (P. 
hispida) may be distinguished at all ages from the two preceding species, and refer¬ 
ence has likewise been made to its adult coloration. It may be added that the ringed 
seal differs from the common seal by its more slender form, longer limbs and tail, 
narrower head, and more pointed nose. The ringed seal is an inhabitant of the 
Arctic and North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, occasionally visiting the British 
Islands; but it may be regarded as pre-eminently boreal, its true home being the 
icy Arctic seas. Its favourite resorts are stated to be sheltered bays and fjords, 
