366 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. 



half of seals, at least, (about the middle of July.) Of these I 

 estimated fully one-half were pups, yearlings, and i holluschu- 

 kifc. 7 The great majority of the two latter classes were hauled 

 out and packed thickly over the two miles of sand-beach and 

 flat which lay between the rookeries j many large herds were 

 back as far from the water as a quarter of a mile. 



U A small flock of the younger ones, from one to three years 

 old, will frequently stray away back from the hauling-ground 

 lines, out and up onto the fresh moss and grass, and there 

 sport and play, one with another, just as puppy-dogs do ; and 

 when weary of this gamboling, a general disposition to sleep is 

 suddenly manifested, and they stretch themselves out and curl 

 up in all the positions and all the postures that their flexible 

 spines and ball-and-socket joints will permit. One will lie upon 

 his back, holding up his hind flippers, lazily waving them in 

 the air, while he scratches or rather rubs his ribs with the fore 

 hands alternately, the eyes being tightly closed ; and the breath, 

 indicated by the heaving of his flanks, drawn quickly but regu- 

 larly, as though in heavy sleep ; another will be flat upon his 

 stomach, his hind flippers drawn under and concealed, while he 

 tightly folds his fore feet back against his sides, just as a fish will 

 sometimes hold its pectoral fins ; and so on, without end of va- 

 riety, according to the ground and disposition of the animals. 



" While the young seals undoubtedly have the power of going 

 without food, they certainly do not sustain any long fasting 

 periods on land, for their coming and going is frequent and 

 irregular ; for instance, three or four thick, foggy days will 

 sometimes call them out by hundreds of thousands, a million 

 or two, on the different hauling-grounds, where, in some cases, 

 they lie so closely together that scarcely a foot of ground, over 

 acres in extent, is bare ; then a clearer and warmer day will 

 ensue, and the ground, before so thickly packed with animal- 

 life, will be almost deserted, comparatively, to be filled again 

 immediately on the recurrence of favorable weather. They are 

 in just as good condition of flesh at the end of the season as at 

 the first of it. 



"These bachelor seals are, I am sure, without exception, the 

 most restless animals in the whole brute creation ; they frolic 

 and lope about over the grounds for hours, without a moment's 

 cessation, and their sleep after this is short, and is accompanied 

 with nervous twitchings and uneasy movements ; they seem to 

 be fairly brimful and overrunning with warm life. I have never 



