74 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



BREEDING GROUNDS. 



The seals occupy for their breeding places narrow bowlder beaches at the foot 

 of high cliffs and extend their harems into the crevasses and channels in the cliffs 

 through which streams flow. In places their breeding grounds extend inland one or 

 two hundred yards. The animals clamber over the rocks, reaching places inaccessible 

 to man. They have good powers of locomotion, and the young walk on all fours. 



In climatic conditions the home of the southern fur seals resembles that of 

 the northern, though there is not the same marked difference between summer and 

 winter. Doubtless there is no migration because no necessity for it. An average 

 annual temperature of from 40 to 45 is recorded, which is about the summer 

 climate of the Pribilof Islands. The sky is almost constantly overcast. Bain falls 

 daily. 



The fur seals of the south are gregarious and herd closely crowded on their 

 rookery grounds, class by class. The young males are forced to withdraw by them- 

 selves in the breeding season. 



THE FIGHTING OF THE BULLS. 



The bulls struggle with one another for possession of the cows as they land. 

 Each harem has from fifteen to twenty cows. These are jealously guarded and are 

 not permitted to leave. The bulls fight valiantly against intrusion, whether by one 

 of their own number or by man. 



There is the same disparity between the males and females. The former is 

 recorded as 6 to 7 feet long, the latter about 4, with a corresponding difference in 

 weight. 



They are found sleeping and playing in the water, just as the fur seals of the 

 north are, and it is reported easy to approach and spear them. 



DIFFERENCE IN TIME OF BIRTH. 



It may be worthy to note in this connection that Capt. W. L. Noyes, who visited 

 the Galapagos Islands during the summer of 1897, found cows with pups already 

 born in July on Wenman Island, just north of the equator, whereas cows on other 

 islands of the same group to the south of the equator, killed in September, contained 

 pups still unborn and apparently not to be born until October or November. The 

 seals of these islands are reported by others to bring forth their young at all seasons. 



There is, however, no essential difference in the habits of the seals of the two 

 hemispheres. The differences in date of the stagy season and of the breeding season 

 are matters dependent upon the climate. The absence of migration periods so marked 

 as in the case of the northern seals is due to the absence of such harsh conditions as 

 the winter of the north exhibits. 



