Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1870-05-12
DROLL CHARACTERS.

The fur seals in the Paci6c islanas fire.
queut them only in the Spring and sam
mer. spending the rest Of their lives .in
some unknown southern cline. large
sized seals appear the earliest. and disrc-
gard all inpcdiments. whether ice or
snow. From the 7th Of Arril they be-
gin 20 appear singly GA tho beach,
and IN chonse exactly the same places
as used the previous year. Second
sisea and third-sixei (siagle) seals make
their appearance after them. and these do
not seem 30 care much about .sheir lset
years resting places. The single males
on arrival ani after taking little rest.
60 down into the water after food, anil
return to places at q safe distance fran
the full grown ones, for the latter are too
jealous to admit Of sheir proximity to
their herds g females.
Thc fcm.les begin to set in. their ap-
pcarance on shore on the lob Of Nav,
anl some even rs late IS the 9th of Jane.
They probably arrive all at ouc,, but
only those seek the dry land whose time
Of breeding is approaching. II So posi-
lively aScertained that the females will
not come TO their usual resting place on
shore, ifhy some circumstances the males
are not prcsen, there The females pre-
fer courageous males. and upon laniin.
they are w,ited upon by the male friends
and led into their respective herds. Eve
ry male seals tries by fighting, bowling
and catching hold by the neck, to appor-
en IL
possible; sometimes they will even steal
the pups from other herds. and thus COM
pei their mothers to settle over to their
own seraglios. The males, according to
their strength and fighting propousi,i,s,
possess from ten to one hundred and fifty
tcmales. Some were known to have had
herds of from five handred to Sven hun
dred females. On the contrary, there are
found some who arcrot favored by the
companions lip OF the fair sex at all.
The full-sised males when just arrived
are very fat, and up to the time of the
appearance of females enjoy themselves
in almost constant sleep. But from the
time of the appearance of IL first fe-
males they do not leave their herds. un-
less to meet newly arrived 1ls friend,
and evidently do not sleep aksll for fear
that some one OF the herd might stroll
away. Their strict watchfulness contin-
ues up to tho time of breeding. and those
females who have borne are suffered to 60
intc-.hS -=at4r !a searah of iced, 1hnt,their
young ones are strictly guarded by their
father and retained in the herd. During
all this time the males eat and drink moth
ing at oil. Sometimes, in very hot days,
they arc wont to swallow little salt wa
ter, but not in order to kills the thirst,
for as observed, they spit it = afier an
hour OF SO. Such a course 0z1DAting aud
watching at last makes them exceedingly
lean and feeble. They are bowling coz.
>tautly day and night. (Their howling
sounds similar to the bleatins of 4 sheep).
1t has been observed that they howl loud
cr before storms and rainy weather.
Their resting places are always on sloPing
and rocky shores.
The females begin to bear young ones
in the latter days of May and during
June. E1ch bears only one and very
seldom two puppies. and in the latter case
always at the risk of the mothers life
During the time OF breeding the males
are very fierce and jealous, and are con-
stanly fighting with each other. The
young ones are feeding on the milk OF
their mothers during all their stay on the
island, aud such feeding is invariably
done on dry land-not in water. When
a month old they usually learn swimming
in shallow water among the rocks, and
by degrees, In the month of August, they
grow expert swimmers, and risk to &c
very far from the shcrc. They will stay
out a. sea Tor whole days, and only re.
turn to thoir mothers when they are hun
cry. and the mothers 60 in search OF sucl
of their progeny as do not return early in
the evening. When the time of their de
parture from the island is approaching
the mothers teach their children tho ar
of evading enemies, and ofteu make falls
alarms for that purpose. For instance
they will lie with their children on til,
beach, and withou. any visible ,Irovoca
tion or reason all at once in q panic throv
themselves into the water and take to tn
sea, bowling and crying, ani suck Of tn
little ones who understand the signal fol
low them: bet some remain howiiug o,
the beach; to such the mothers retur
and try the experiment again.