coasts, and the Indians of the interior assert that many live
permanently in the lakes. Big and Little Seal lakes are more than 100
miles from the nearest salt water. The Ringed seal is locally called
"floe rat" and "gum seal." It is the smallest and least valuable of
all, and fairly common all round. The Harp seal is "seal," in the same
way as cod is "fish." It has various local names, five among the
French-Canadians alone, but is specifically known as the Greenland
seal. The young, immediately after birth, have a fine white coat,
which makes them valuable. The herds are followed on a large scale at
the end of the winter season, which is also the whelping season, and
hundreds of thousands are killed, females and young preponderating.
They are still common along the east and south, but diminishing
steadily, especially in the St. Lawrence. The Bearded, or
"Square-flipper," seal is rare in the St. Lawrence and on the
Atlantic, but commoner in Hudsonian waters. It is a large seal, eight
feet long, and bulky in proportion. The Grey, or Horse-head, seal
runs up to about the same size occasionally and is one of the gamest
animals that swims. It is rare on the Atlantic and not common anywhere
on the St. Lawrence. The "Hoods" are the largest of all and the lions
of the lot. They run up to 1,000 pounds and over, and sometimes
fourteen feet long. They are rare on the Atlantic and decreasing along
the St. Lawrence, owing to the Newfoundland hunters. The Walrus,
formerly abundant all round, is now rarely seen except in the far
north, where he is fast decreasing.

Moose may feel their way in by the southwest to an increasing extent,
and might possibly be reinforced by the Alaskan variety. Red deer
might possibly be induced to enter by the same way in fair numbers
over a limited area. The woodland caribou is almost exterminated, but
might be resuscitated. The barren-ground caribou is still plentiful in