HABITS. 349 



mostly all hauled up,) I saw him, covered with scars and gashes 

 raw and bloody, an eye gouged out, but lording it bravely over 

 his harem of fifteen or twenty cows, all huddled together on the 

 same spot he had first chosen. 



" The fighting is mostly or entirely done with the mouth, the 

 opponents seizing each other with the teeth and clenching the 

 jaws; nothing but sheer strength can shake them loose, and 

 that effort almost always leaves an ugly wound, the sharp 

 canines tearing out deep gutters in the skin and blubber or 

 shredding the flippers into ribbon-strips. 



''They usually approach each other with averted heads and a 

 great many false passes before either one or the other takes the 

 initiative by griping; the heads are darted out and back as 

 quick as flash, their hoarse roaring and shrill, piping whistle 

 never ceases, while their fat bodies writhe and swell with exer- 

 tion and rage, fur flying in air and blood streaming down all 

 combined make a picture fierce and savage enough, and from 

 its great novelty, exceedingly strange at first sight, 



" In these battles the parties are always distinct, the offensive 

 and the defensive; if the latter proves the weaker he with- 

 draws from the position occupied, and is never followed by his 

 conqueror, who complacently throws up one of his hind flippers, 

 fans himself, as it were, to cool himself from the heat of the 

 conflict, utters a peculiar chuckle of satisfaction and contempt, 

 with a sharp eye open for the next covetous bull or < see-catch.'* 



"The period occupied by the males in taking and holding 

 their positions on the rookery offers a favorable opportunity in 

 which to study them in the thousand and one different atti- 

 tudes and postures assumed between the two extremes of des- 

 perate conflict and deep sleep sleep so sound that one can, by 

 keeping to the leeward, approach close enough, stepping softly, 

 to pull the whiskers of any one taking a nap on a clear place ; 

 but after the first touch to these whiskers the trifler must jump 

 back with great celerity, if he has any regard for the sharp 

 teeth and tremendous shaking which will surely overtake him 

 if he does not. 



"The neck, chest, and shoulders of a fur-seal bull comprise 

 more than two-thirds of his whole weight, and in this long 

 thick neck and fore limbs is embodied the larger portion of his 

 strength ; when on land, with the fore feet he does all climbing 



* " l See-catch/ native name for the bulls on the rookeries, especially those 

 which are able to maintain their position." 



