72 THE PUR SEALS OP THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



heavy roller enabled it to get away before steps could be taken to kill it. One of its 

 mangled victims, a large gray pup, was washed ashore, and an opportunity was thus 

 given for its examination. 



The killers are reported to visit the islands also in the spring at about the time 

 of the landing of the cows, and a few were seen early in June in the spring of 1897. 

 Whatever may be said of these animals, and the destruction they may cause, their 

 feeding on the fur seals can not be considered as more than incidental, else they would 

 remain about the islands all summer. They probably do not depend upon the seals in 

 any way for food. 



THE DEPARTURE OF BACHELORS AND HULLS. 



The bachelors still linger about the islands after the departure of the cows. They 

 are taken for food by the natives all through the month of December and at times far 

 into January. On mild winters they are to be seen about the islands all winter. 

 Thus, iu the season of 1896-97, a food drive was made on December 14, and seals were 

 reported on Sivutch Rock on December 30, January 7 and 29, February 6 and 16. 

 Nineteen seals were killed for food on the rock on March 2. 



But as a rule November closes the stay of the seals on the islands, and, class l>y 

 class, they set out on their winter migrations. 



THE SWIMMIM; m- THE SEALS. 



The fur seal is wonderfully adapted for its long winter residence in the water. 

 Its movements are as quick and graceful as those of a fish. In swimming it uses tut- 

 fore flippers only. The hind flippers are held flat together, projecting backward like 

 a rudder, and they may serve the animal in that capacity. 



There are abrupt cliffs on St. Paul Island from which the motions of the swimming 

 seals can be watched. A stone thrown near a submerged seal causes it to turn about 

 and dart away with lightning speed. So rapid are its movements when thus disturbed 

 that it is impossible to distinguish the motion of the flippers, which are powerful 

 enough in the case of the bull to make the water boil iu foam. 



THE RATE OF TRAVEL. 



In traveling rapidly the seal alternately rises clear of the water and dives under 

 it in a series of compouud curves. The dolphin-like leap, "breaching" as it is called, 

 enables the animal without loss of time to recover its breath. How fast the seals can 

 travel is not known and can probably not be computed. They have, however, been 

 seen to follow and swim with apparent ease about vessels going at from 10 to 12 knots 

 per hour. Under force of circumstances they could doubtless reach a higher rate 

 of speed, but whether it could be continued through long distances can not be known. 



Observations of the movements of a branded cow on Lukanin rookery in 1897 

 seemed to indicate that in her earliest absences she was gone from three to four days. 

 AS the feeding grounds in Bering Sea are upward of 100 miles distant from the 

 islands some idea of the distance she must have traveled can be gained. She would 

 doubtless spend some time on the feeding banks eating and resting. This trip the 

 females make regularly throughout the summer at intervals of from five to ten or more 

 days. Further evidence of the rapidity with which the seals travel can be seen in 



