156 Fish Stories 



tack with all the force of a grizzly bear any bull or man who 

 may attempt to enter his square rod or so of ground. 



The old bull, very appropriately called " beach master " 

 by the earlier observers, is about as large as a bear, and is 

 built like one, except for his flappy, oar-like feet. The fur 

 seals are in fact not really seals at all, but belong to the bear 

 tribe, having long plantigrade feet, modified for swimming. 

 The true seal is a very different creature, having nothing 

 in common with the fur seal, beyond his power to swim and 

 his appetite for fish. The fur seal can walk, run and climb 

 almost as well as the bear can, and it swims with its fore- 

 arms with a powerful, paddling stroke. 



For some time after the landing of the bulls, there is con- 

 stant war between them, the younger ones trying to get 

 places on the rookeries by ousting the older ones. Very 

 rarely can a male of less than seven years maintain himself 

 on the breeding grounds. Those of five or six years of 

 age, after having been whipped off the breeding grounds, 

 often climb upon the rocks above the rookeries or stand in 

 the edge of the sea, looking into the promised land, and 

 making the air vocal with expressions of unrequited affec- 

 tion. 



The younger males accept the situation as a matter of 

 course and make no attempt to go on the rookeries. They 

 herd by themselves in great bands on special areas called 

 hauling grounds. They spend their time sleeping on the 

 sand and playing in the water. From these young males, 

 bachelors as they are called, the lessees of the islands are 

 allowed to kill a certain number for their skins. Those 

 killed are chiefly three-year-olds. A fixed sum is paid to 

 the United States treasury for each skin taken, and during 

 a period of twenty years the revenue derived by the United 

 States from the Pribilof Islands amounted to more than the 

 total purchase price of the territory of Alaska. But of late 

 years the seal herd has been steadily declining, because of 

 the killing of females at sea by the pelagic sealers. Less 



