126 THE PUPS. 



I have seen a mother seal carry her pup out a little way into the 



Mater and force the little animal to use its flippers. 



Samuel Falconer, p. 165. Finally, after repeated trials, the pup learns to 



swim, and from that time on spends a good deal 



of time in the water; but still the greater portion of these first months 



of its life are spent on land sleeping and nursing. 



At 7 or 8 weeks old the pups learn to swim by first paddling in the 

 the shallow water, but after learning to swim they 



AntonMelovedoffyj). 144. appear to prefer to stay on land until the cold 

 weather drives them off in November. 



When the pups are about six or eight weeks old they begin to herd 

 together in groups called "pods ;" these by degrees 

 T. F. Morgan, p. 62. work down toward the shore and after several 

 trials and failures at last find theuseof their flip- 

 pers and learn to swim ; from this time, the 1st of August or there- 

 abouts, the imp goes into the water at intervals, but remains most of 

 the time on the rookeries until about November, the time which the 

 pup spends in the water depending a great deal on the weather. 



In the winter of 1871-'72, I made one of an expedition from San 

 Francisco to the Antarctic fur-seal rookeries of 

 Arthur Newman, p. 210. Staten Land, and spent altogether, abouta month's 

 time on the rookeries during the months of No- 

 vember and December, 1871, and January, 1872, which is their breeding 

 season. I there observed that a pup is fully a month old before ven- 

 turing in the water at all, and I do not believe they are expert until 

 between three and four months of age. 



When five or six weeks old the pups begin to run around and form 

 bunches or "pods;" at seven to eight weeks old 

 L. J.N<>ycs,p.82. they try the water at the edge, where, after pad- 



dling in the shallows, they gradually learn to 

 swim. And after becoming expert swimmers they continue to show a 

 preference tor land, where they generally remain if not driven into the 

 water by heavy rain or warm sunshine. 



I have seen thousands of pups learning to swim at the rookeries on 



St. Paul, and their early efforts were quite as 



z. L. Tanner, p. 375. awkward as those of a boy when taking his first 



dip. Their trouble seems to be to keep their 



heads above water. 



During the rutting season the bulls generally remain upon land, 

 while the females are constantly going to and 



Geo. Wardman, p. 178. from the water, feeding and bathing, and teach- 

 ing their pups to swim, as I believe, which the 

 pups are unable to do for the first six weeks of their existence. In fact, 

 a pup is afraid of the water during these six weeks and needs a good 

 deal of coaxing at first to get him to go into it. Young pups can not 

 be driven into the water by men, and when I tried to drive them in be- 

 fore they had learned to swim they would invaiiably run back from the 

 water. 



