182 CARNIVORA. 



ture of 46 and 48 on land during the summer, they 

 show signs of distress whenever they make any exertion, 

 pant, raise their hind flippers and use them incessantly 

 as fans. With the thermometer at 55 to 60, they seem 

 to suffer even when at rest, and at such times the eye 

 is struck by the kaleidoscopic appearance of a rookery, 

 on which a million Seals are spread out in every imagin- 

 able position their bodies can assume, all industriously 

 fanning themselves, using sometimes the fore flippers as 

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

 at the same time fanning briskly with the hind flipper 

 or flippers, according as they sit or lie. This wavy 

 motion of flapping and fanning gives a peculiar shade of 

 hazy indistinctness to the whole scene, which is difficult 

 to express in language ; but one of the most prominent 

 features of the Fur Seal is this fanning manner in 

 which they use their flippers, when seen on the breeding- 

 grounds in season. They also, when idling as it were 

 off shore at sea, lie on their sides, with only a partial 

 exposure of their bodies, the head submerged, and hoist 

 up a fore or hind flipper clear of the water, whilst 

 scratching themselves or enjoying a 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, a species of louse and a tick, peculiar to 

 itself. 



" All the bulls from the very first, that have been able 

 to hold their positions, have not left them for an instant, 

 day or night, nor do they do so until the end of the 

 rutting season, which subsides entirely between the 1st 

 and 10th of August, beginning 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 



