ALASKA FI'R SEAL. 179 



of the females, which are generally three weeks or a 

 month later, as a rule. 



" The labour of locatmg and mamtaining a position in 

 the rookery is really a serious business for those bulls 

 which come up last, and for those that occupy the water- 

 line, frequently resulting in death from severe wounds 

 in combat sustained. 



" It appears to be a well understood principle among 

 the able-bodied bulls that each one shall remain 

 undisturbed on his ground, which is usually about 10 

 feet square, provided he is strong enough to hold it 

 against all comers ; for the crowding in of fresh bulls 

 often causes the removal of many of those who, though 

 equally able-bodied at first, have exhausted themselves 

 b}^ fighting earlier, and are driven by fresher animals 

 back farther and higher up on the rookery. 



" Some of the bulls show wonderful strength and 

 courage. I have marked one veteran, who was amongst 

 the first to take up his position, and that on the water- 

 line, where at least fift}^ or sixty different battles were 

 fought victoriously by him with nearly as many different 

 Seals, who coveted his position, and when the fighting 

 season was over, after the cows have mostly hauled up, 

 I saw him covered with scars and gashes, raw and 

 bloody, an eye gouged out, but lording it bravely over 

 his harem of fifteen or twenty cows, all huddled together 

 on the same spot he had first chosen. 



" The fighting is mostly or entirely done with the 

 mouth, the opponents seizing each other with the teeth 

 and clenching the jaws ; nothing but sheer strength can 

 shake them loose, and that effort most always leaves an 

 ugly wound, the sharp incisors tearing out deep gutters 

 in the skin and blubber, and shredding the flippers into 

 ribbon strips. 



N 2 



