Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-04-29

interests, has preserved this grand exhibi-
ton of wild life in all of its marvellous
features. This lease of the seal. islands
was granted July l, 1870, to the Alaska
Commercial Company of San Francisco
for term of twenty years, upon the faith
full fulfillment of all conditions specified
in the lease.
with the clearing away of ice and
snow come the first seals of the season,
usually by the 1st or I'd of May. All these
early arrivals are males, full grown, which
anticipate the coming of the females even
six weeks in advance. Thus. by being
! first upon the ground for the season, they
are able to choose their locations without
much difficulty, upon which each is to re-
ceive his family.
From the time the male comes out and
takes his position upon the rookery ground
until he leaves it at the close af the season
"A period usually of little over three
months-he takes no food or water, and
never for IN instant, unless driven away
| by superior force, leaves his ground, which
! is about ten feet square in area. The sub
sistence of fur seal males for three or four
months without eating, while engaged in
the most violent exercise, combined with
the greatest vigilance, is marvellous, for
they DO not stagnate, like bears, or similar
alternating animals. None of the other
classes, the COWS. Young males, and pups,
sustain any protracted fasting, the cows
| feeding every two or three weeks, at least,
while the young males and yearlings of
both sexes seldom stay upon land more
| than a week or ten days at any one time.
The males fight desperately, even to
death, for their positions on the rookeries,
the combatants, with teeth clinched in
each others hides OF tiippers. struggling
in savage though alert unwieldiness, their
roars of rage and defiance being half sti-
/ fled by the violence of the conflict.
The females are, however, exceedingly
amiable in disposition, and are only about
one fourth the size of the males. which
will weigh from three hundred to five hun
/ dred pounds early in the season, having
| six to seven feet Of length. The females
weigh on an average eighty pounds, and
measure four feet in length.
/ The bodies of these animals are covered
! with two coats, one of short, coarse over
! hair. and the othera soft, close, elastic fur,
! which is completely concealed by the for
mer The prevailing color among the
males on the breeding grounds is a rusty
brownish-black, with a dark gray or ru
/ fous-ochre patch orr wig over the shoul-
ders, while the females show shining steel
/ like tints on the back, with pure white on
the inferior parts This beautiful coloring,
however, soon fades, by exposure to the
weather, to Il dull rufous brown and gray.
From the 1St of June to the l4th the fe-
males begin to make their appearance.
and afterward, up to the Sth of July, they
arrive by thousands and tens of thousands,
landing in obedience to some subtle in
Il. Al.
which might be supposed to exist among
such numbers Within the short period
/ of three weeks acres of ground are fairly
packed by these animals rs closely rs they
can lie They are stimulated to land by
the expiration of the period of CESSATION.
for soon after coming ashore, usually
within day or two, they give birth to
their Young How nicely these ftultless
animals must time and direct their long
sea-journey back to these islands for
they 90 in quest of food two and three
/ thousand miles away.
The fur seal never sprhwls oat and
/ founders when moving on land, rs mi sat
be supposed from observing the progress
sion of the common hair seal; on the con-
trarv. this animal carries its body clear
and free from the ground with head and
neck erect. stepping forward with its fore
feet and bringing the hinder ones up to
| fresh position after every second step for
ward. When exerting itself it can spring
into Il numbering. shambling gallOp and
for few rods run rs fast as a man, but
will sink quickly to the earth, gasping.
painting, and palpitating. In the water all
movements when swimming are quick
and swift, the fore tlippers propelling. and
the long, attenuated hinder ones serving
to guide the course. The animal ALWAYS
in travelling swims under water, ever and
anon rising, with head and neck clear from
the sea. to snort and survey the field The
seals will frequently, when in play or sud
denly startled, leap from the water like so
many dOlphins.
The Young seals are exceedingly frolic-
some ut sea (as also Il great part of the
time on land); running acrobatic races in
the surf, chasing one another and whirl-
| ing in swift circles, they seem to be brnl-
ful of warm, Joyous life. They also delight,
especially the old ones, in laziIv turning
over and over in the swell, scratching and
rubbing themselves with their tiippers, ex-
posing as they float in the water but a
small portion of their bodies; and they
also sleep upon the surface in the same
short, uneasy slumber so characteristic of
them when on land. There is nothing dull
or lethargic about the fur seal when asleep
| or awake. \ healthy seal is never seen
sleeping without an involuntary nervous
muscular tWitchinG and tlinching of vari-
Gus portions of its body. usually an uneasy
folding out and back of its tiippers, with
| quick crawling movements of its skin, the
eyes being, however, always tightly closed
Arising from these bands of hertling
seals is Il peculiar dull, vibrating roar the
Joint effort of hundreds Of thousands of
vigilant and angry males, together with
the calls of their harems, a din which never
ceases for an instant, day or night, during
the six or eight weeks of the breeding
season: it can be heard ut sea miles AWAY
and frequently has warned vessels of the
dangerous proximity of land when search
ing for the islands in thick, foggv weather
There also comes with this sound Il most
disagreeable smell. The seals themselves
do not emit this odor, although they have
sweetish, oily breath, but they are con-
stantly stirring up the decaying bodies of
the dead on and over which they sleep or
necessarily founder.
The COW seals, after coming up on to
the rookery and giving birth to their
young, seldom remain long at time with
out visiting the sen, both to feed and to
wash, leaving the pups on their rocky
birth-places. The cows suckle their off
spring at least every three or four days,
the little fellows gorging themselves as Il
rule, so as to be for many hours after nurs-
ing almost incapable of moving They do
not seem to know their respective mothers,
who, however, never permit any but their
own to suckle.
The pups are drol little animals, full of
fun, and very fond of getting together in
large squads, all the way up from IL hun
dred to ten thousand, to frolic and gambol
among themselves, until a common i'm
pulse leads them to sleep. BY the middle
4 of August those of them that may be near
est the water essay to swim, for fur seal
pups first attempt is most laughably awk-
ward, and did it not begin in some shallow
, eddy near the shore, it would certainly