44 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



From July 1 to July 15 or 20 may be called the height of the rookery season, 

 when the harems are at their fullest and the bulls are most active in keeping the 

 cows within bounds. During this time there is little visible change, and even a count 

 of the cows may show little or no difference between two days, although a systematic 

 count made day after day will show fluctuations.' That there is a steady though 

 imperceptible going and coming of cows is revealed by the fact that a count of the 

 pui)s shows thein to be twice as numerous as the cows that are on the rookery 

 grounds at any one time, although for a while the arrivals about balance the 

 departures, giving the rookeries an appearance of stability tbat they really do not 

 possess. 



About the 1st of August comes the period of rookery expansion, when the rigid 

 discipline of the harems is relaxed. The cows, now nearly all impregnated, are allowed 

 to come and go as they please, and the entire mass of seals draws back from the 

 water's edge, making it possible to pass between the seals and the water without 

 creating much disturbance. This spreading of the rookery limits is apparently due 

 to the movements of the young, who work out of the harems and assemble in bands 

 back of the breeding places, podding, as it is termed. The nursing cows returning 

 from the sea naturally seek for their pups, and this in turn brings the cows back of 

 their original positions, the whole body of seals being thus brought from 50 to 200 

 yards, or even more, inland. A certain amount of this expansion is also due to the 

 influx of 2-year old cows which make their appearance in the main after the 1st of 

 August and are eagerly appropriated by the bulls, particularly by the waiting bulls. 



Fighting among the bulls continues throughout the rookery season, not only 

 between the proprietors of adjacent harems, but more particularly between the bulls 

 with cows and those without, and among the idle bulls. The fur seal is ever ready to 

 construe any movement on the jiart of a neighbor as a threatened attack, and (juite 

 as ready to meet him halt way, although there is much threatening that results in 

 nothing and many brief encounters that end in a vicious bite or two, serious enough, 

 in fact, but of comparatively little moment to a bull seal. Two bulls will rush sav- 

 agely at one another, and just before meeting throw themselves flat on their breasts 

 and simply puff two or three times at each other like small locomotives. The most 

 severe combats take place while the harems are forming, or later on, as just stated, 

 between the lord of a harem and some idle bull who has made up his mind to dis- 

 possess his fortunate relative. These fights are sometimes long protracted and the 

 bulls get b.idly bitten about the back, shoulders, and fore flippers, the back of the 

 arm being a favorite place of attack. The several fights which were brought to a 

 finish were concluded by the bulls coming up to each other, chest to chest, and push- 

 ing with all their might, the bull which was forced backward yielding aiui rushing 

 for the water, to the great disturbance of that section of his rookery. 



While, as previously stated, the main features in the life of the fur seals have 

 been long known, of late years many questions, once looked upon as of i)urely scientific 

 interest, have become of great practical importance, rendering a more detailed and 

 exact knowledge of the life history of the fur seal not only desirable, but necessary. 



" Judging from Dr. Stejneger's remarks, the weather seems to have much less infliienco on the seals 

 on the Pribilofs than it does on the (^omiiiandcr IslaiidM, for uo such general depletion of the rookeries 

 takes place on a bright, warm day on the former islands as he notices several times on the Commaudei's. 



