THE FTJE SEAL: HABITS OE THE PUPS. 91 



it last — but perhaps slie misses it, and finds instead a swarm of pups in which it has been incor- 

 porated, owing to its great fondness for society. The mother, without first entering into the crowd 

 of thousands, calls out just as a sheep does for a lamb; and, out of all the din she — if not at first, 

 at the end of a few trials — recognizes the voice of her offspring, and then advances, istriking out 

 right and left, toward the position from which it replies. But if the pup happens at this time to 

 be asleep, it gives, of course, no response, even though it were close by; in the event of this silence 

 the cow, after calling for a time without being answered, curls hei'self up and takes a nap, or lazily 

 basks, to be usually more successful, or wholly so, when she calls again. 



The pups themselves do not know their own mothers — a fact which 1 ascertained by careful 

 observation; but they are so constituted that they incessantly cry out at short intervals during 

 the whole time they are awake, and in this way the mother can pick out from the monotonous 

 blaating of thousands of pups, her own, and she will not permit anj^ other to suckle it; bat the 

 "Kotiekie" themselves attempt to nose around every seal-mother that comes in contact with them. 



I have repeatedly watched young pups as they 'made advances to nurse from another pup's 

 mother; the result invariably being, that while the mother would permit her own offspring to 

 suckle freely, yet, when these little strangers touched her nipples, she would either move abruptly 

 away, or else turn quickly down upon her stomach, so that the maternal fountains were inaccessible 

 to the alien and hungry " Kotiekie." I have witnessed so many examples of the females turning 

 pups away, to suckle only some particular other one, that I feel sure I am entirely right in saying 

 that the seal-mothers know their own young; and that they will not permit any others to nurse 

 save their own. I believe that this recognition of them is due chiefly to the mother's scent and 

 hearing. 



Disorganization of the kookebies. — Between the end of July and the 5th or 8th of 

 August of every year, the rookeries are completely changed in ajjpearance ; the systematic and 

 regular disposition of the families or harems over the whole extent of the breeding-ground has 

 disappeared; all that clock-work order which has heretofore existed seems to be broken up. The 

 breeding season over, those bulls which have held their positions since the first of May leave, most 

 of them thin in flesh and weak, and of their number a very large proportion do not come out again 

 on land during the season; but such as are seen at the end of October and November, are in good 

 flesh. They have a new coat of rich, dark, gray-brown hair and fur, with gray or grayish-ocher 

 " wigs" of longer hair over the shoulders, forming a fresh, strong contrast to the dull, rusty brown 

 and umber dress in which they appear to us during the summer, and which they had begun to 

 shi d about the first of August, in common with the females and the " Holluschickie." After these 

 males leave, at the close of their season's work and of the rutting for the year, those of them that 

 happen to return to the land in any event do not come back until the end of September, and do 

 not haul upon the rookery-grounds again. As a rule they prefer to herd together, like the younger 

 males, upon the sand-beaches and rocky points close to the water. 



The cows and pups, together with those bulls which we have noticed in waiting in tlie rear of the 

 rookeries, and which have been in retirement throughout the whole of the breeding-season, now 

 take possession, in a very disorderly manner, of the rookeries. There come, also, a large number 

 of young, three, four, and five j-earold males, which have been prevented by the menacing threats 

 of the older, stronger bulls, from landing among the females during the rutting-season. 



Before the middle of August three-fourths, at least, of the cows at this date are off in the 

 water, only coming ashore at irregular interva,ls to nurse and look after their ])ups a short time. 

 They presented to my eye, from the summits of the bluffs round about, a picture more suggestive 

 than anything I have ever seen presented by animal life, of entire comfort and enjoyment. Here, 



