62 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



no less than 42 dead cows were found in the season of 1897 on Reef rookery, the 

 majority of which were so torn and mangled as to point to the harsh treatment of 

 the bulls as the probable cause. Other cows were found dead from similar cause 

 on all the rookeries. In 189G 131, all told, were thus counted. 



The bulls are anything but gentle with the cows. Examples of their rough treat- 

 ment can at any time be seen on the rookeries. Living cows, cut and slashed and 

 torn, are everywhere visible. Tn most cases the injury is due probably to accident 

 rather than intention. In one case, however, on Lukaniii rookery during the summer 

 of 1897, a bull simply bit and worried a stolen cow until he killed her. When first 

 seen she was considerably torn, having been stolen from a neighboring harem by her 

 master, an idle bull. She was restless and kept making constant efforts to escape. 

 The bull treated her roughly, but while observed was not seen to injure her seriously. 

 At every time the rookery was subsequently inspected, however, she was found to be 

 in worse condition, until after two days she was found dead. The bloody jaws and 

 front of her master showed plainly who was responsible. The body was recovered 

 and the skin taken and tanned as a specimen of the wanton cruelty of the bull. 



THE WOUNDS OF THE FUR SEAL. 



The attitude of the fur seals toward their wounds is striking. There is no attempt 

 to nurse, lick, or otherwise notice them. A bull, whose foreflipper is hacked and 

 bleeding, his every movement lacerating still further the injured muscles, may be seen 

 rushing about, rounding up his harem, bidding defiance to every idle bull within 

 reach. A cow may be seen going about with a flap of skin 6 inches square torn from 

 her back. A pup was seen from whose side the skin and blubber was torn and 

 hanging in a flap, leaving the intestines bare, and it was still a lively and apparently 

 cheerful pup. A bull in attempting to carry off a cow from a harem was attacked by 

 the owner of the cow. Instead of dropping her .and defending himself he clung to 

 her and took his punishment, struggling on. The harem master seized him by the 

 exposed flank, and when he released his hold, after almost overturning the bull, the 

 blood gushed out from the holes made by his ugly canines. The thief escaped with 

 the cow and added her to his small harem of two. In his self-satisfied perambulations 

 about his family group he soon made a space of about 10 feet square crimson with his 

 blood. The next day the bull was just as pugnacious as ever, and even made an 

 attempt to steal a fourth cow. His wounds, of which he had many, were a source of 

 no apparent annoyance to him. 



The thick coating of blubber under the skin with which the seals of all classes are 

 lined is doubtless not very sensitive, and this, not the muscles, is torn and lacerated. 

 The climatic conditions, the salt water, and the absence of flies render the healing of 

 the wounds rapid, and by the middle of August but few traces remain, except the 

 welt or scar in the skin which at times results from imperfect healing. The wound 

 which so many bulls receive at the angle of the foreflipper is usually kept gaping open 

 to such an extent by the movements of the animals that a perpetual scar remains. 



THE INSTINCT FOR FIGHTING. 



The fighting among the bulls has evidently been a feature of the breeding grounds 

 so long that it has become an instinct with the males. On every hauling ground the 

 bachelors of all ages are constantly going through in play the movements of their 



