Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-09-02
THE FUR SEAL.
The Habits of the Animals
in their Homes.
ABOUT THE PRIBYLov ISLAND.
The Al arems" of the Seals and How
the Young Seals are Edu-
Gated for Life.

49,
the Young Seals are Edu-
Gated for Life.
In previous paper in the HERALD
brief synopsis of the history of the tax
ing Of fur seals was given, showing how
Q very valuable industry was destroyed
in nearly all portions Of the globe by an
indiscriminate slaughter of the animals.
Thus was laid the basis on which to
claim police surveillance over the fur
seal, and their protection at the hands of
our Government. At the hands of our
Government; for, as the former paper
plainly showed; the only breeding place
of the seal left in the world, of any con-
siderable value, is within the limits Of
our territory. The present paper will be
devoted to sketch of the habits OF the
seals.
THE PRIBYLOv ISLANDS.
In the year 1890, or ninety-nins years
ago last spring, Russian captain whose
ship was fishing near the Aleutian is-
lands in the south part of Bering sea, in
the month of May, observed a vast
school CT fur seals heading away in a
north westerly direction. He proceeded
to capture some of them, and noticing
that they were working right out into
the open sea, and seemingly far from all
land, it occurred to him to follow up
the trail and learn where they might
haul up. After sailing more than 200
miles he came upon the resting place of
the seals, on two small islands, about
40 miles apart, and the larger being SO
square miles area and the other q.
Here he found an immense breeding
place of the seals. Millions of the ami
mails frequented these rocks for breeding
purposes. He reported his discovery
to his Government, and the
rocks were named Pribylov islands, in
honor of the discoverer. From that date
until 1867, when the Territory Of Alaska
was ceded to the United States, this waf
the great Russian seal fishery. A strict
police surveillance was maintained over
these islands by the Russian Government
ut all times.
THE HABITS OF THE SEAL.
The Pribylov islands are an ideal home
xOA tu0 b06As 4AO 6AOAOo 0A0 hAkh bAO
very rocky. From these crags the
plunge into deep water is immediate and
direct. In the worst weather the waves
never wash over these precipitous shores
The rocks are broken in their contour
affording every facility for the seals tc
reach their chosen abode.
have invented very inappropriate and
fuooA ~4una-oIoksx~n H. svn
Of seals, their habits and capture
To begin, the seal is moi
. fish in any sense Of the term. The
young OF the species are born on land
not in the sea. After becoming Of suf'
fcient strength 10 brave the waves they
have to be taught to swim. They are
warm-blooded animals, and bring forth
tan. seal knntifniE; knnt Ing ID "a much -fbss fbssttssii
term than seal fishing. Then the place
where the seals breed is by q strange
confusion of ideas called "rookery,''
- if the animals were birds. But this
ID not all. The full-grown male seal is
called by the sailors bull, reverting to
whale fishing, and the female is called q
COW, as in the whale species. So far
we'll in this respect, but when the sailors
come to speak of the young seal, instead
Of sticking 10 the whale nomenclature
and calling it a calf, these old
''sea dogs" call the young animal pup,
as if it were Of the canine species. Seals
Of the male gender, and over year old
but under years, are called bachelors.
Confusion worse confounded reigns gu.
preme in all the sailors attempts to in
vent terms for the seal kind.
COMING TO THE ISLAND.
About the last days of April any one
standing on the rocks of either of the
Pribylov islands, st. George or st. Paul,
will fnd the seal haunts tenantless. But
at any moment during such q day he
may observe mile or two to seaward an
old male seal lift his head from the waves
and make a careful reconnoiter of the
rocks before him. He will disappear for
q moment and then rise closer to the
shore. He will repeat this many times,
and if he finds the coast clear he will
utter a series of grunts, then sp.
proach the rocks, climb them and make
Q careful inspection of the place, smelling
carefully the rocks at each step of his
advance. He will then return close to
the water and take up his station under
the shelter of some great rock. Then
for days at short intervals will come
other full grown male seals. These will
call from the sea to the shore, and ifans-
wered by the sentinel on the rock in q
satisfactory manner, they will come
ashore and take up position on the rocks.
After six or seven days all the rocks
along the shore will become tenanted by
the seals. each one lying apart from his
fellows with spare territory around him.
Here they will 60 to sleep and remain in
that state two or three weeks.
The least noise will frighten
these seals away, and the natives are
strictly prohibited from approaching the
resting places of the seals during those
days Of sleep. 1t is observed that the
same seals come 10 the same rocks year
after year, and never miss finding their
own abode.
About the end of May the whole
school of seals, females and ungrown
young, begin to arrive. As their cry is
heard out at sea, the males on the watch
rouse themselves, call back to them, go
into the sea to meet them, and conduct
the females to their resting places which
have been selected.
SELECTING HOMES.
The females easily recognize their
mates and their old breeding ground, and
ct once take up their abode on their own
territory. The males reach the age Of
puberty not before they are five