694 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



males coming first. They march up from the water, their heads erect, 

 and raised about three feet from the ground, and each selects a spot for 

 breeding, which he must defend against all comers. This affair settled, 

 the females, about a month later, begin to arrive, and then ensues a scene 

 well described by Elliott. As the cows draw near, the bulls go to the 

 water and coax the females to their seraglios. As soon as one is enticed, 

 the male starts for the water to secure another, but as soon as his back is 

 turned, a neighbor has taken the first wife off his hands, and then a battle 

 ensues, which not infrequently results in the poor little female, not a 



.' ^ V,, 



Fig. 531. — Harp-seal, or Greenland seal (Phoca vitulina). 



quarter the size of her lord, getting badly used. They stay on shore but 

 a short time, — the males until August, the females a month or two later; 

 for they have to care for the cubs, which are born soon after the mothers 

 appear. The young males furnish the best skins, but before these are 

 ready for the market they have to pass through many processes to give 

 them that soft appearance so much admired. 



There are fur-seals in the Antarctic seas, but their fur is not so valu- 

 able as that of the Alaskan species; and besides, their capture has not been 

 regulated, so that now, where a quarter of a century ago they were abun- 

 dant, they have almost been exterminated, and to-day a sealing-voyage does 

 not have the profit that it formerly did. 



