346 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



(e) Three from starvation due to straying. 



(/) Two from being carried off by bachelors. 



Estimate of 17 in all in 1,000, or 1.7 per cent. 



One pup has been seen with sore eyes, but this can hardly be considered a cause 

 of mortality. Not more than 1 in 50 die naturally, which is certainly a high estimate 

 up to date. 



ZOLTOI. 



The white semi albino half bull which has been seen on Zoltoi and which is out 

 this morning is not the same as the white 6-year-old at Gorbatch; but both are 

 beauties. The Zoltoi bull is a 5-year-old. He is not nearly so white as the other. He 

 is rather yellowish gray over dusky under fur. The 5-year-olds generally seem to be 

 getting lean. They are much larger and less plump than 4-year-olds. They have 

 smaller heads. Five years seems to be the "hobbledehoy" age with them. Four- 

 year-olds look like 3 year olds, except for their incipient bristles. 



Two wounded 5-year-olds are out on Zoltoi; one with a shoulder out of joint, 

 another with an injured back. Another 4-year old in rather feeble condition is blind 

 in one eye. 



Buckshot will probably be found to be the cause of injury in many such cases. 

 The drives rarely or never produce such injuries, and injuries from falls are very few. 

 Accidental wounds by the clubs on the killing grounds are also very rare 

 Wounds in fights with other bulls are mainly on the shoulders, breast, and head. Of 

 the injured bulls and half bulls that lie about the sands at Zoltoi and Polavina probably 

 10 are injured by buckshot to 1 that is seriously hurt by fighting or by falling or by 

 driving. The cuts of the bulls are rarely more than skin deep and seem to heal 

 quickly. Buckshot breaks the bones and tears the viscera. 



The bull with the injured back is ordered shot for museum purposes. He is about 

 10 years old. Examination shows a large unhealed hernia before the right hip. Jacob 

 Kochuteu says that he has been bitten. 



THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE BULLS. 



The tired old bulls are already beginning to pull out on the beaches, having 

 finally given up hope of getting on the rookeries. They may be seen on Zoltoi Sands 

 and on Lukauin and Polaviua sand beaches. We are told that many of them will die 

 before the season is over. They will go to sleep on the sand and simply not wake up. 

 The sand will drift over them as they lie. 1 



In the afternoon Dr. Jordan visited the salt house and saw the process of curing 

 the skins. The skins are first taken to the salt house and spread out in tiers one above 

 another with salt shoveled over them. After about five or six days they are taken out 

 and examined for places where the salt did not take effect. They are resalted, the 

 order of the skins being reversed. After ten or twelve days they are again taken out 



1 It is evident that these bulls were those which had done duty on the rookeries and withdrawn 

 at or near the close of the season. They had probably already been to the sea to feed. They were 

 seen in increasing numbers throughout the rest of the season. The idle bulls which temporarily took 

 their places on the breeding grounds also joined them later in the season. These were in no sense 

 animals which had withdrawn to die. They recovered their wonted condition, and were to be seen by 

 the thousand on English Bay, North Shore, and Lukauin beaches until the end of October. 



