MARINE CARNIVORA 



137 



herds during the breeding-season, and of spending a long period on land after the young are 

 born. The male seals reach the islands, or " rookeries," first, followed by the females. The 

 latter give birth to their young almost as soon as they reach the rocks, and are then seized and 

 gathered into harems by the strongest and oldest males. The sea-lions of Patagonia, equally 

 with the fur-seals of Bering Sea and the Pribyloff Islands, never feed during the whole time 

 which they spend on the rocks, often for a period of two months. 



THE FUR-SEALS. 



The NORTHERN FUR-SEAL is the only member of this group surviving in any number. 

 These animals still annually resort to the Aleutian Islands, in the territory of Alaska, in great 

 herds to produce their young, and to certain other islets off the coast of Japan. This northern 

 fur-seal, from the fur of which the sealskin jackets are obtained, is, when full grown, between 

 6 and 7 feet long. The females are only 4 feet or 4^ feet in length. The shoulder of the male 

 is gray, the rest of the body varying between reddish gray and deep black. The female is lighter 

 in colour. Males of this species are not full grown till six years of age, but breed when four 

 years old. The females produce young at three years of age. The male seals take possession 

 of the females almost immediately after reaching the breeding grounds, each male collecting as 

 many females as it can round it The pups keep with their mothers. This assemblage is 

 surrounded by great numbers of young male or bachelor seals, which the old males prevent from 

 annexing any of the females. The greatest of all these gathering-places are on the Pribyloff 

 Islands and certain other islets in Bering Sea. By the end of May both male and female seals 

 swim in flocks through Bering Straits, making for the islands. The islands themselves are 

 leased to American merchants. But as those seals killed on the way are all just about to bring 

 forth young, the waste and cruelty of this " pelagic sealing " will be easily understood. On the 

 islands, or " rookeries," the males, mothers, and pups remain till August, when the pups take to 

 the water. The male seals have remained for at least two months, incessantly fighting and 

 watching, without taking any food. By that time they are quite exhausted, the fat which they 

 laid up previously being all absorbed. The fur has not naturally either the colour or texture 



Ph,t by G. W. ffilnn & Co., Ltd.] [Aberdeen 



SEA-LION 



This photograph shows the dry mane of the sea-lion, a rather uncommon sight, as it rarely remains long enough out of the -water for its fur 



to become absolutely dry 



