32 THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



From tlie time of the first arrival iu May up to the beginuiug of June, or as late as the middle of that month, 

 if the weather be clear, is an interval in which everything seems quiet. Very few seals are added to the pioneers 

 that have landed, as we have described. By the 1st of June, however, sometimes a little before, and never much 

 later, the seal-weather — the foggy, humid, oozy damp of summer — sets in ; and with it, as the gray banlcs roll up 

 and shroud the islands, the bull-seals swarm from the depths by hundreds and thousands, and locate themselves iu 

 advantageous positions for the reception of the females, which are generally three weeks or a month later than this 

 date iu arrival. 



Pre-eiviption of the rookeries: Battles of the seals. — The labor of locating and maintaining a 

 position on the rookery is reallj- a terribly serious business for these bulls which come in last; and it is so all the 

 time to those males that occupy the water line of the breeding-grounds. A constantly-sustained light between the 

 newcomers and the occupants goes ou morning, uoon, and night, without cessation, frequently I'esultiug iu death 

 to one or even both of the combatants. 



It appears, from my survey of these breeding-grounds, that a well-understood principle exists among the 

 able-bodied bulls, to wit : that each one shall remain undisturbed on his ground, which is usually about six to 

 eight feet square; provided that at the start, and from that time until the arrival of the females, he is strong 

 enough to hold this ground against all comers; inasmuch as the crowding in of tlie fresh arrivals often causes the 

 removal of those which, though equally able-bodied at first, have exhausted themselves by fighting earlier and 

 constantly; they are finally driven by these fresher animals back farther and higher up on the rookery; and 

 sometimes off altogethe'r. 



Many of those bulls exhibit wonderful strength and desperate coumge. I marked one veteran at Gorbatch, 

 who was the first to take up his position early in May, and that position, as usual, directly at the water-line. This 

 :nale seal had fought at least forty or fifty desperate battles, and fought off his assailants every time — perhaps 

 nearly as many different seals which coveted his position — and when the fighting season was over (after the cows 

 are mostly all hauled up), I saw him still there, covered with scars and frightfully gashed ; raw, festering, and 

 bloody, one eye gouged out, but lording it bravely over his harem of fifteen or twenty females, who were all 

 huddled together on the same spot of his first location aiul around him. 



This fighting between the old and adult males (for none others fight) is mostly, or rather entirely, done with 

 the mouth. The opponents seize one another with their teeth, and, then clenching their jaws, nothing but the sheer 

 strength of the one and the other tugging to escape can shake them loose, and that effort invariably leaves an ugly 

 wound, the sharp canines tearing out deep gutters in the skin and furrows in the blubber, or shredding the flipi>ers 

 into ribbon-strips. 



They usually approach each other with comically averted heads, just as though they were ashamed of the 

 rumpus which they are determined to precipitate. When they get near enough to reach one another they enter 

 upon the rei)etition of many feints or passes, befiu-e either one or the other takes the initiative by grii)ing. The 

 heads' are darted out and back as quick as a fiash ; their hoarse roaring and shrill, piping whistle never ceases, while 

 their fat bodies writhe and swell with exertion and rage ; furious lights gleam in their eyes; their hair flies in the 

 air, and their blood streains down ; all combined, makes a picture so fierce and so strange that, from its unexpected 

 position and its novelty, is perhaps one of the most extraordinary brutal contests man can witness. 



In these battles of the seals, the parties are always distinct; the one is offensive, the other defensive. If the 

 latter proves the weaker he withdraws from the position occupied, and is never followed by his conqueror, who 

 complacently throws up one of his hind-flippers, fans himself, as it were, to cool his fevered wrath and blood from 

 the heat of the conflict, sinks into comparative quiet, only uttering a iieculiar chuckle of satisfaction or contempt, 

 with a sharp eye open for the next covetous bull or " see catch ".* 



Attitudes and coloration of the fttr-seals. — The period occupied by the males in taking and holding 

 their positions on the rookery, offers a very favorable opportunity to study them in the thousand and one differtut 

 attitudes and postures assumed, between the two extremes of desperate conflict and deep sleep — sleep so profound 

 that one can, if he keeps to the leeward, ajjproach close enough, stepjiing softly, to pull the whislcers of any old 

 male taking a nap on a clear place; but after the first touch to tlr se moustaches, the trifler must jump with electrical 

 celerity back, if he has any regaul for the sharp teeth and tremendous shaking which will surely overtake him if 

 he does not. The younger seals sl"ep far more soundly than the old ones, and it is a favorite pastime for the 

 natives to surprise them in this manner — favorite, because it is attended with no jiersonal risk; the little beasts, 

 those amphibious sleepers, rise suddenly, and fairly shrink to the earth, si)itting and coughing their terror and 

 confusion. 



The neck, chest, and shoulders of a far-seal bull comprise more than two-thirds of his whole weight; and iu 

 this long, thick neck, and the powerful muscles of the fore-limbs and slionlders, is embodied the larger iiortion of his 

 strength. When on land, with the fore-hands he does all climbing over the rocks and grassy hummocks back of the 

 rookery, or shnitles his way over the smooth ])arades; the hind-feet being gatheied up as useless tra])pings 

 after every second step forward, which we have described at the outset of this chapter. These anterior flippers are 



* '• See-catcb," native uame for the bulls ou tlic rookeries, especially those which are able to maintain their position. 



