284 TYPES OF ANIMAL LIFE 



mother's eye without causing her to show the slightest 

 concern. The same indifference is exhibited by the male 

 to what takes place outside the space of ground he has 

 made his own, but so long as the cubs, or pups, remain 

 within it, he is their zealous and bold protector. The 

 writer last quoted observes : 



" It is surprising to see how few of the pups get 

 crushed to death while the ponderous males or ' bulls ' 

 are floundering over each other when engaged in fighting. 

 I have seen two bulls dash at each other with all the 

 energy of furious rage, meeting right in the midst of 

 a group of forty or fifty pups, trampling over them with 

 their crushing weights, and bowling them over right and 

 left in every direction, without injuring a single one. 

 I do not think that more than one per cent, of the 

 pups born each season are lost in this manner on the 

 rookeries. 



" To test the vitality of these little animals, I kept 

 one in the house to ascertain how long it could live with- 

 out nursing, having taken it immediately after birth 

 and before it could get any taste of its mother's milk ; it 

 lived nine days, and in the whole time half of every day 

 was spent in floundering about over the floor, accom- 

 panying the movement with a persistent hoarse bleating. 

 This experiment certainly shows wonderful vitality, and 

 is worthy of an animal that can live four months without 

 food or water, and preserve enough of its latent strength 

 and vigour at the end of that time to go far off to sea, 

 and return as fat and hearty as ever during the next 



season." 



It is often supposed that the sealskin we find at the 

 furrier's is the animal's fur in a natural condition. 

 Such is, however, by no means the case, for the freshly 

 taken skin is not at all handsome looking. The beau- 

 tiful fur which ladies know so well, is, in the natural 

 condition, entirely concealed by a coat of stiff-brown or 

 grey over-hair, which has to be carefully removed, and 



