SLEEP OF THE FUR SEALS. 63 



elders. By twos they are striking for the foreflipper or dodging the blow, bracing and 

 pushing and struggling with each other. They pant and strain, rest for a time, and 

 then resume the contest. 



This same thing is true of the little pups. As soon as they are able to play at 

 anything it is bull fighting. The little black head of the 2-weeks-old pup strikes 

 out for his neighbor's foreflipper, which involuntarily tucks itself under the body, and 

 the little yellow teeth close on the fur of the neck and pull and tug until their owner 

 has put to rout its antagonist or been routed. In each case, while it is plainly play, 

 it is such dreadfully earnest play that one can only distinguish it from the fighting 

 of the bulls by its results. 



THE NOISE OF THE ROOKERIES. 



To appreciate fully this picture of the animated life of the fur-seal rookery one 

 must take into account the medley of sound that accompanies it. The bulls are giving 

 vent at intervals to their savage roars of defiance. In their more subdued efforts 

 to maintain discipline in the harem they are constantly whistling, chuckling, and 

 scolding in various notes. Mingled with all this is the shrill bleat of the female and 

 the answering call of the pup, which correspond to the voice of the sheep and the 

 lamb, though greater in volume. When it is understood that thousands of these 

 animals are calling and answering all the time, some idea of the uproar and confusion 

 incident to rookery life is possible. Nor is the din and noise peculiar to the day. 

 It can be heard at all hours of the night; in fact, the activity is, if anything, greater 

 at that time. 



THE SLEEPING OF THE SEALS. 



In the early days of the breeding season all the animals sleep much of the time. 

 The cows, as they come in from their long journey, spend most of the first ten days 

 they are constantly on land in sleeping. It is with the height of the season, when 

 the cows are landing in large numbers from their trips to the feeding grounds, that 

 the noise and confusion becomes so marked. But even then through it all a large 

 proportion of the animals are comfortably asleep. A harem may be seen in which, 

 for the time being, every animal from the old bull down to the pups is sound asleep. 

 Beside it may be a harem which is all confusion, every animal up and stirring, and 

 most of them calling. Still another harem has part of its occupants awake and 

 active, the rest asleep. On the hauling grounds, among the pups and among the idle 

 bulls, it is the same. 



. The seals sleep very soundly at certain times. In counting the live pups it 

 frequently happened that a pod of 50 or 100 pups would be driven over a space on 

 which a half dozen or more pups slept undisturbed by the shuffling feet of their 

 companions. To the seal's habit of sleeping soundly in the water the success of 

 pelagic sealing is largely due. The pelagic sealer, taking advantage of the habit, 

 is able to row close up to the sleeping animal and throw his spear into it or fill it 

 with buckshot. 



The attitude of the seal thus sleeping in the water is interesting. It lies on its 

 back in a bowed position, the nose just peering above the surface, and, it is said, 

 always to the leeward. The hind flippers are raised aloft as a windbreak to keep the 

 animal in this definite position. In this attitude the seal can apparently sleep with 



