380 ARTICLE BY DR. J. A. ALLEN. 



tioned, I had an excellent opportunity t > examine and study the seals 

 wliicli frequent that coast. Along- the coasts and islands near Cape 

 Horn snow does not fall to any extent, and never remains for any 

 length of time. No ice forms along tlie shore. TLere is very little 

 difference in the temperature of winter and summer. 

 a itso eab. ^jij^^ seals inhabiting these shores do not migrate, but 

 always remain on or near the land, only going a short distance in 

 search of food, and at all seasons and in every mouth of the year seals 

 can be found on shore. Toward the latter part of October the 'wigs,' 

 or full-grown males, begin to congregate on the breeding rookeries. A 

 'wig' weighs anywhere from 250 to 500 pounds, and must be 4 or 5 years 

 old before he has strength and endurance enough to maintain a place 

 on the rookery. The battles for position between rival 'wigs' are most 

 fierce, but at last they all get their ])Iaces, and await the coming of 

 the ' clapmatches ' or females. About the 10th of November the 

 females begin to arrive, and land on the breeding rookeries. Each 

 'wig' gets about him as many 'clapmatches' as he can, the average 

 number, I should say, being from ten to twenty. The 'wig' never 

 allows the 'clapmatch' to leave his harem for some time, always seiz- 

 ing her and dragging her back if she attempts to go into the water. 

 Almost immediately on landing the female drops her pup, it seldom 

 being more than a day after they come on shore. 



" A ' clapmatch ' gives birth to only one pup, except in rare instances, 

 when she has two. I never saw but one case where a ' clapmatch ' had 

 more than one pup at a birth. Within a few days after the birth of 

 the pup, the ' clapmatch' is served by the 'wig.' After being served, 

 the ' wig ' lets her go into the w^ater to feed, as she has to do in order 

 that she may nurse her pup. 



" The pup when burn weighs about 4 or 5 i^ounds, and is covered 

 with shining black hair, beneath which there is no fur. 



Habits of pups, ^y jj^,j^ ^-y^^^. Q^, ^^,^ months old, this black hair is shed, 



and a new hair of a brownish-gray color comes out, and the fur appears 

 with it. A pup does not go into the water until he is three or four 

 months old, and then he works gradually from the puddles into the surf, 

 and I have seen 'clapmatches' in stormy weather pick up their pups 

 in their mouths and carry them out of reach of the waves. . . . 

 Until the pup sheds his black hair, he is entirely dependent on his 

 mother's milk for sustenance. . . . A black pup walks on all fours, 

 raising his body more from the ground than an older seal. . . . All 

 seals can move very rapidly on land when forced to do so, and seem to 

 have remarkable powers of land locomotion when the formation of their 

 nippers and body is taken into consideration. 



"The young 'wigs,' or nonbreeding males, not being alloAved on the 

 rookeries, herd by themselves and never molest the 



The young maks. ij^^.g^jg^ Q^i^gy „q j^to the watcr, but during the breed- 

 ing season hang around the rookeries, never going far from shore. 



" About the 20th of November we used to begin killing and np to 

 that time the ' wigs ' had never left their positions to feed or drink. I 

 do not know how much longer they would have staid there lasting if 

 we had not molested them." 



From the foregoing, and from much similar testimony that might be 

 brought togetlier, it is evident that the habits and places of resort of 

 fur-seals is much the same everywhere. 



