272 OUR ARCTIC PROVINCE. 



standing at 55 and 60, they are then oppressed even when at rest ; 

 and at such times the eye is struck by the kaleidoscopic appearance 

 of a rookery in any of these rookeries where the seals are spread 

 out in every imaginable position their lithesome bodies can assume, 

 all industriously fan themselves : they use sometimes the fore flip- 

 pers as ventilators, as it were, by holding them aloft motionless, at 

 the same time fanning briskly with the hinder ones, according as 

 they sit or lie. This wavy motion of fanning or flapping gives a 

 hazy indistinctness to the whole scene, which is difficult to express 

 in language ; but one of the most prominent characteristics of the 

 fur-seal, and perhaps the most unique feature, is this very fanning 

 manner in which they use their flippers, when seen on the breeding 

 grounds at this season. They also, when idle, as it were, off-shore 

 at sea, lie on their sides in the water with only a partial exposure 

 of the body, the head submerged, and then hoist up a fore or hind 

 flipper clear out of the water, at the same time scratching them- 

 selves or enjoying a momentary nap ; but in this position there is 

 no fanning. I say " scratching," because the seal, in common with 

 all animals, is preyed upon by vermin, and it has a peculiar species 

 of louse, or parasitic tick, which annoys it. 



Speaking of seals as they rest in the water leads me to remark 

 that they seem to sleep as sound and as comfortably, bedded on 

 the waves or rolled by the swell, as they do on the land. They lie 

 on their backs, fold the fore flippers down across the chest, and 

 turn the hind ones up and over, so that the tips rest on their necks 

 and chins, thus exposing simply the nose and the heels of the hind 

 nippers above water, nothing else being seen. In this position, un- 

 less it is very rough, the seal sleeps as serenely as did the prototype 

 of that memorable song, who was " rocked in the cradle of the 

 deep." 



All the bulls, from the very first, that have been able to hold 

 their positions, have not left them from the moment of their 

 landing for a single instant, night or day ; nor will they do so 

 until the end of the rutting season, which subsides entirely between 

 August 1st and 10th it begins shortly after the coming of the 

 cows in June. Of necessity, therefore, this causes them to fast, 

 to abstain entirely from food of any kind, or water, for three 

 months at least ; and a few of them actually stay out four months, 

 in total abstinence, before going back into the ocean for the first 

 time after " hauling up " in May. They then return as so many 



