The National tribune., 1888-02-23

and gurgling growl; he emits a chuckling,
sibilant piping whistle, and spits with a rapid
choo- choo noise, just as steam pHfis sound when
they escape from the smokestack of a locomO-
tive.
The females, however, have but one note.
They bleat like sheep-precisely like them,
and the young, or pups" also. The sound
which arises from these great breedng-grounds
Of the fur seal in Boring Sea- where, during
every June and July thousands upon tens
thousands Of angry, vigilant bulls are roaring,
chuckling and piping, and millions Of seal
mothers are calling in hollow, bleating tones
TO their young, which, IN turn, respond inces-
sanity,
is SIMPLE DEFIANCE
TO verbal description. It is at slight distance
softened into deep booming jar like the roar
of big cataract miles away. 1t has been and
is heard six miles off to leeward by the sailors of
approaching vessels
Fur seals when on the islands seem to suffer
great inconvenience and even misery from
comparatively low degree of temperature.
When the thermometer stands at 460 or 4So
(Fahr.) they show everywhere, as your eye
ranges over the spread Of hosts, signs of the
greatest uneasiness, and whenever any exertion
IN moving about or in fighting, positive dis
tress. They then pant loudly and heavily, and
elevate their hind nippeTs, which they employ
Of tanning or Tapping gives hay indistinct
ness to the whole picture which is difficult TO
describe.
In observing such rookery we notice that
the old males never leave their little stations
which they have located themselves upon in
advance Of the arrival of the females the last
Of May and June They remain there
fore hauled out from the sea from the time
OF their first arrival in May until the breed
ing season breaks up in August. During
all this long time these animals have not tasted
food or Tapped water. They have sustained
themselves throughout their protracted fast by
the self-absOrption of the fat OF their own
bodies; SO that a bull which weighs at least
400 pounds when he first hauls out in May,
viii when he returns to the sea IN August
score less than $50 pounds Of actual weight
a mere bony shadow of what he was four
months earlier. AFFECT and almost lifeess, ne
crawls back into the water 10 renew fresh
lease Of life.
But the sealskins which we wear never came
or come from the bodies of these gentle females
or the old males that We observe on the rock
cries here. They are taken from the backs of
the
YOUNG MALES,
the bachelors, or holluschickie," as the natives
call them. The young males are not permitted
by the stronger, heavier old males 10 land upon
the breeding-gTounds. Therefore they are
obliged 10 herd by themselves on the ground
adjacent On these young fellows depends the
value Of these wonderful seal preserves of
Boring Sea, for under the wise regulations
which order and guard these interests on the
Pribylov Islands those bachelors alone are
killed. There are just as many males born as
females, but the intense polygamous habit of
the fur seal allows only one-tenth or one-fif-
teenth Of the number Of males 10 hold stations
on the breeding-grouuds. Hence an immense
aggregate Of surplus male life is obliged 10 herd
apart by itself. From this stock the natives
make their daily selection and drives" dur
ing the killing season.
These fur-seal bachelors lead a merry life
however, out here as far as We can see. Wholly
careless, without any responsibility, they fish,
doze and lazily gambol around the shores and
desport themselves in thousand queer aquatic
gambols. They troop ashore in vast platoons,
swarm mp from the sea over miles Of low, sandy
landings, and stray in small bands back as far
as a mile, rolling over the messy sphaguum or
crushing that characteristic vegetation under