444 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



occupied, as lie supposes, because they go to the places in which they were born. 

 Instead of seeking more room in other and new quarters they simply mass in the 

 same areas year after year. 



Kegarding the disappearance of Spilki, he said that he did not know what had 

 been the cause, but the desertion was a gradual one. The cows ceased h'rst to come. 

 The bulls hauled out on the rocks and waited for a time, but, no cows coming, they 

 went away. 



In the matter of preference between the islands, he said he thought the seals 

 came simply to the island where they were born. He said, however, that the 

 seals always hauled out on St. Paul first, although the ice and snow left St. George 

 first. They came right by St. George on their way up. It was possible to always get 

 a food drive on St. Paul before one could be got on St. George. Mr. lledpath did not 

 believe that the seals interchanged between the islands. 



THE CHUTE. 



The afternoon was spent with three carpenters in rigging up a chute for 

 experiments in culling seals. There are two ways in which the drives might be 

 improved and redriving stopped. One is by culling the seals near the hauling ground 

 and driving only those to be killed. The other is to herd up the rejected seals in the 

 Lagoon and in certain lakes until the killing season is over, not allowing them 

 to return to the hauling grounds. 



SEPTEMBER 1. 



The line of pups and cows below the observation rock on the Reef has thinned 

 out since Sunday. Many of the cows are in the water. Three of the five harems 

 are again well defined. The surrounding cows and pups have fallen away. One harem 

 has 18 cows and 2 pups; another has 12 cows and 3 pups; another has 6 cows and 

 1 pup. 



On the sandy flat just above the second pond there are 2 distinctly marked 

 harems which were not there on Sunday. The cows are all lying out at full length; 

 the bull is lying in their midst. The morning is bright and sunshiny and every animal 

 on the rookery is stretched out and fanning. 



A young bachelor at the foot of the rocky cliff on which I am sitting is worrying 

 a pup. He looks like the same one seen on two previous occasions. He takes the 

 pup up by the back of the neck and shakes it as a dog would a rat. The pup bites 

 him when released and then runs until the bachelor overhauls him again. Pup 

 escapes among the sleeping cows and they wake and drive off the bachelor. 



cows AND PUPS. 



A wet cow has come up to the foot of the cliff. A pup with a peculiar voice is 

 following her. She pays no attention to it for several minutes while it stands over a 

 stone and calls to her. The wet bachelor comes up to the pup and smells of it. The 

 cow immediately attacks the bachelor, driving him off. The mother then recognizes 

 the pup and lets it nurse. 



Wet cows and pups are seen in the outermost edge of the rookery. Two wet cows, 

 each with a wet pup, are lying on the rocks below me. Looking about I see a very 

 wet pup sucking a perfectly dry cow. She looks as though she had not been in the 



