arly
exterminated as the Right. But the Little-piked, or _rostrata_, is
found inshore along the north and east, the Bottle-nose on the north,
the Humpback on the east and south; and the Finback and Sulphur-bottom
are common and widely distributed, especially on the east. The Little
White whale, or "White porpoise," is fairly common all round; the
Killer is widely distributed, but most numerous on the east, where the
Narwhal is also found. The Harbour and Striped porpoises, and the
Common and Bottle-nosed dolphins, are chiefly on the east and south.
There are six Seals--the Harbour, Ringed, Harp, Bearded, Grey and
Hooded. The Harbour seal is also called the "Common" and the "Wise"
seal, and is the _vitulina_ of zoology. It is common all round the
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. R