450 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



STARVED PUPS 



It had been denied that the rookeries of the Commander Islands show a corre- 

 sponding mortality due to starvation. On the rookeries at Glinka, on Medni Island, 

 however, I found the conditions even worse than on St. Paul. Pelagic sealing is 

 continued through July on the Itussian side, and a larger percentage of the total 

 number of females is destroyed. 



Zapadni rookery, of Medni Island, is a stretch of coarse shingle and rounded 

 rocks on a sloping beach at the foot of very high cliffs. In the sea are large rocks, 

 on which the female seals are now mostly gathered. On the shore is a small pod of 

 females and a number of groups of pups. No males, young or old, appear. 



In the first little pod of 20 pups, C are evidently starving; 8 recently starved; 

 dead ones lie there, and there are 4 dead ones of older date, but also emaciated. 



Zapadni rookery seems not much larger than Little Polovina, of St. Paul. On 

 the rookery ground are 11 fresh-starved pups, besides 14 which seem, some of them 

 at least, to have been starved, but which are now largely decomposed. 



There are many carcasses of dead seals on the beach nearly devoured, and dense 

 swarms of small flesh flies abound, their maggots destroying a dead pup or dead seal 

 carcass very quicky. Evidently of the very earliest pups only fragments remain. 

 The air seems drier and warmer than on St. Paul, and a dead pup remains fresh only 

 for a short time. Many which have not been more than a week dead have been 

 reduced to skeletons and hair. 



A pod of 4C pups on shore is examined. As a whole they seem much less active 

 than Pribilof pups smaller, sleepier, and more stupid. Seventeen of the number are 

 evidently starving. Some look plump, but it is probable that nearly all of these 

 land pups are really starving; the large and well fed ones have taken to the water. 



Other pods show similar characteristics. In a group of some 200, about 80 are 

 evidently starving. This is not a count, but a rough guess. The percentage in 

 general holds for all groups examined. 



In this record no effort was made to get full counts for lack of time. I have only 

 noted what I saw. It is very clear that the starving pup is in fullest evidence on the 

 Glinka rookeries. On these rookeries trampled pups must stand at a very minimum, 

 because the rookeries are narrow and rocky, preventing massing, and bulls are few. 

 There is little chance of drowning. 



One pup in the water has crawled upon a rock about 10 feet from the shore to die. 

 The rising tide will drown him if he doesn't starve first. 



On the edge of the slide at Palata is a little brook which has worn a small gully, 

 and which is doubtless responsible for the slide itself. In the brook were 4 dead 

 starved pups, and in a pod of 150 lying near it at least 50 more are starving. 



The governor of Medni Island seemed rather sensitive on the subject of dead 

 pups, as though he felt that he might be taken to task for it. He spoke of the 

 trampling of bulls as the cause. I tried to throw the blame on the pelagic sealers, 

 and expressed my hope that wise arrangements might put a stop to the loss. But it 

 would seem that the authorities think the less said the better on the subject. 



It is probable that most of the pods of pups along the beach are made up of 

 starving ones, the strong ones being in the water and on the bare outlying reef. Even 

 a fairly plump one seemed dull and dwarfish, while among the others are all stages of 

 emaciation. The excessively numerous beach flies make quick work of the bodies. 



