Part 7 (2/2)
The other shook his head
”Don't want sunshi+ne,” he said ”Fog's much better”
”What for?” asked Colin in surprise ”Why should any one want fog rather than sunshi+ne?”
”Fur seals do,” was the eroups of islands in the North Pacific Just here and Coier than others?” hazarded Colin at a guess
”Exactly Fur seals live in the water nearly all year Water is colder than air Seals are warot to keep out the cold”
”Is that why they have such fine fur?”
”Obviously And,” the Fisheries official continued, ”under that close warm fur they have blubber Lots of it”
”Blubber like whales?”
”Just the same Fur and blubber keeps 'e for the air Like wearing North Pole clothing at the Equator If the sun co seals make for the water Those that have to stay on the rookery lie flat on their back and fan themselves Certainly! Use their flippers just the way a woular fan See 'em any time”
Colin looked incredulously at his co it up,” the other said ”They fan themselves with their hind flippers, too Just as easy”
”I think theyhis fingers in his ears as they rounded the point and the full force of the rookery tumult reached theent adht as daytiht is dily! Don't notice it after a while”
”The queer part of it is,” the boy said, listening intently, ”that there seem to be all sorts of different noises It's just as I said coerie I'm sure I can hear sheep!”
”Can't tell the cry of a cow fur seal fro of an old sheep,” was the reply ”The pup seal 'baa-s' just like a lamb, too
Funny, sometimes On one of the smaller islands one year we had a flock of sheep Caused us all sorts of trouble The sheep would co for their la The la of their mothers”
”Why do you call the mother seal a cow seal?” asked the boy
”Usual name,” was the reply
”Then why is a baby seal a pup?” asked Colin bewildered ”I should think it ought to be called a calf!”
The Fisheries official laughed
”Seal language is the o I know,” he said ”Mother seal is called a 'cow,' yet the baby is called a 'pup' The cow seals are kept in a 'hare is called a 'rookery,' though there are no rooks or other birds around The big 'bull' seals are sometimes called 'Sea-Catches' or 'Beachmasters' The two-year-olds and three-year-olds are called 'Bachelors' The 'pups,' too, have their 'nurseries' to play in”
But Colin still looked puzzled
”Our gunner was talking about 'holluschickie'?” he said ”Are those a different kind of seal?”
”No,” was the reply, ”that's the old Russian-native name for bachelors
There are a lot of native words for seals, but we only use that one and 'kotickie' for the pups”
”If the cow seals bleat,” said Colin, ”and the pups 'baa' like a lamb, what is the cry of the beachmaster?”