l\o'2 



VERTEBIIATA. 



SEA-BEAR. 



months, during which the females bring forth. They are polygamous, and live in families, every 

 male being surrounded by a crowd of females — from fifty to eighty — whom he guards with the 

 greatest jealousy. These families, each including the young, amounting to 100 or 120, live sep- 

 arate, though they crowd the shore, and that to such an extent on the islands of the northv est 

 coast of America, that it is said they often oblige the traveler to quit it and scale the neighboring 

 rocks. Both male and female are very affectionate to their young, and fierce in their defense ; but 

 the males arc often tyrannically cruel to the females, which are very submissive. If one family 

 encroaches on the station of another, a general fight is the consequence. They will not, in fact 

 they dare not, leave their stations, for if they did they must encroach on that of some other fam- 

 ily. Steller relates that he had been beset by these seals for six hours together, and was at last 

 obliged to climb a precipice to get rid of the infuriated animals, at the imminent peril of his life. 

 They have their war-notes and several other intonations. When amusing themselves on the 

 shore, tln\- low like a cow or chirp like a cricket, after a victory, and when they are wounded, cry 

 like a whelp. They swim very swiftly, and are as great a terror to other seals as the sea-lion is 

 lo them. The skin, which is very thick, is covered with hair, like that of the common seal, but 

 a great deal longer, standing erect, and being very compact. The skins of the young are highly 

 prized for clothing. 



The Fur-Seal, A. Falkhmdicus, is one of the most remarkable of the seals. The skin is cov- 

 ered with two different substances; the longest consists of hair of a grayish color, and when 

 this is pulled out, there is left that fine, soft, close, yellowish fur, which was once so commonly 

 made into caps for boys. It was formerlv a very common species on the shores of the Falkland 

 1 inds, and other groups of islands in the southern seas. Captain Weddell, in his "Voyage 

 towards the South Pole," has given the best description of the habits of this seal. The male is 

 nearly twice the size of the female. About the middle of November the males go on shore to 

 wait the arrival of the females, who soon follow, to bring forth their young; the males, at this pe- 

 riod, have many battles, and during the gestation of their partners are most assiduous protectors 

 of them. The female has Beldom more than one at a birth, which she suckles and rears with 

 great affection. Alter the young one has been taught to swim by its mother, it is left on shore, 

 and remains there till its coat of fur and hair is full v grown. At first, the yoling.arc black, but 

 in a few weeks they become gray, and immediately after acquire their full costume. Their senses 



