SYNOPSIS OY- PINNIPEDS. 379 



arrival of the females, wliicli of necessity soon follow, for the purpose 

 of bringing- forth their young. These in the early part of ]>eceiuber 

 begin to land; and they are no sooner out of the Tvater than they are 

 taken possession of by the males, who have many serious battles with 

 each other in procuring their respective soragiios; and, by a i^eculiar 

 instinct they carefully protect the females and their charge during the 

 whole period of gestation. 



''By the end of December all the female Seals have accomplished the 

 ]nirpose of their landing. The time of gestation may 

 be considered twelve nionths, and they seldom have i'™P''^s-'»t'^° °< s*^"''^- 

 more than one at a time, which they suckle and rear apparently with 

 great affection. By the middle of February the young are able to take 

 the water, and after being taught to swim by the mother they abandon 

 them on shore, where they renniin till their coats of fur and hair are 

 completed. During the latter end of February wliat are called the dog- 

 seals go on shore; these are the young seals of the two preceding years, 

 and such males as from their want of age and strength are not allowed 

 to attend the pregnant females. 



" These young seals come on shore for the pur^iose of renewing their 

 annual coats, Avhicli being done by the end of April, they take to the 

 water, and scarcely Jiny are seen on shore again until the end of June, 

 when some young males come up and go off alternately. 



" They continue to do this for six or seven weeks, and the shores are 

 then again abandoned till the end of August, when a herd of small 

 young seals of both sexes come on shore for about five or six weeks; 

 soon after they retire to the water. The large male seals take up their 

 ])laces on shore, as has been before described, which completes the in- 

 tercourse all classes have with the shore during the Avhole year. 



"The young are at first black; in a few weeks they become gray, 

 and soon after obtain their coat of hair and fur. M. Buffon describes 

 the longevity of the seal to be even so great as a hun- ^ ^^ 

 dred years. I have estimated the female seal to be in o^ige'*'' y- 



general at its full growth within four years; but possibly the male 

 seal is much longer, very likely live or six years; and some which I 

 have contrasted with others of the same size could not, from their very 

 old appearance, be less than thirty years." (Weddell, Yoyages, pp. 

 137, 140.) 



The following recent account of the habits and breeding places of the 

 southern fur- seals is from the afilidavit of Mr. George , ..-,,•, 



... ^r,^n 1 Acrount of habits, 



Comer, who tor ten years, beginning in 1<S/ 9, was engaged by Mr. George 

 in senlingin thesouthern hemisphere. He spent fourteen '^"™<^r. 

 months at a small island, called by the sealers West 

 Cliff; Chile, about 100 miles north of the Straits of cmI.'* ^'''^ ^''"°'^' 

 Magellan. The shores, he says, of all the many seal 

 rookeries he visited, " are of much the same character. There is a nar- 

 row beach line, from which cliffs rise abruptly to the height of 75 to 150 

 feet. Through these are narrow crevasses in the rocks or small ravines, 

 where streams flow into the sea; it is at such points the seals are to be 

 found. The animals clamber up these rocks, often going where it is 

 impossible for man to go. The climate of these localities is peculiar. 

 The sky is constantly overcast, and during the summer U^a average 

 temperature would be between 40° and 45° F. Eain falls nearly every 

 day, keeping the atmospliere constantly moist, but no hard storms take 

 place, the rain falling in misty showers. 



"Dmingthe fourteen months x^assed at West Cliff, heretofore men- 



