316 PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND.

frgm fifteen inches to two 'feetin length, were consi- dered as fine a quality of ivory as those of the elephant , and their skins, about an inch in thick- ness, weie cut into st11pes for traces, and used on the island, or exported to Quebec. They affmded also excellent oil. None of these animals have appeared near the shores of the island for thirty years, but are still seen occasionally at the Magdalene Islands, and other places to the northward.

Seals of the description called harbour seal, appear in the bays, and round the shores, during summer and autumn; and in the spring, immense numbers sometimes come down on the ice from the northward. These are the same kind as the ice seals of New- foundland.

Most of the birds described in a former chapter frequent this island; and owls, crows, ravens, wood- peckers, partridges, with some others, remain during the whole year.

Partridges are larger, and considered finer, than in England. A provincial law prohibits the shooting of them between the first of April and the first of Sep- tember. W’ild pigeons arrive in great flocks in sum- mer from the southward, and breed in the woods.

Wild geese appear in March, and, after remaining five or six weeks, proceed to the northward to breed, from whence they return in September, and leave for the southward in November. Brent geese and wild ducks are plentiful.

There are no game laws, unless the provincial act for preserving part1 idges during four months be