308 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 61, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Island, and from Adak Island. He gave the range of this form 

 as the "American side of the North Pacific Ocean." Obviously, 

 this is the seal of the Aleutian district, but there is a possibility 

 that the more western form, P. v. largha, may occur near the 

 western islands. 



These seals will enter fresh water. Osgood (1904, p. 49) men- 

 tions reports of a spotted seal living in the fresh waters of Lake 

 Iliamna, and he says that most of those killed were taken either 

 near the outlet of the lake or in Kvichak River, "which seems to 

 indicate that the animals whether distinct or not, go back and 

 forth from Bristol Bay to Lake Iliamna." 



Among the Aleutian Islands, seals were usually found in the 

 kelp beds, but they do not always seek such a habitat. I had a 

 fine opportunity to study these animals in the spring and sum- 

 mer of 1925, at Unimak Island and at the west end of Alaska 

 Peninsula. They were very common at that time. They hauled 

 out on the boulders of the reef at Amagat Island and basked on 

 the kelp-covered boulders near the beaches of Amak Island. In 

 Urilia Bay, they hauled out on the sand along the entrance to 

 Rosenberg Lagoon, and in Izembek Bay they hauled out on 

 shoals and sandbars at low tide. A small sand island in the 

 channel between Operl and Neumann Islands was a favorite 

 hauling-out place. 



Seals pick a resting place that provides ready escape, always 

 near deep water. If the ebbing tide recedes from a boulder on 

 which a seal is resting, the animal will move to another rock, 

 nearer to deeper water. When navigating the shallow Izembek 

 Bay with our whaleboat, we could steer a deep-water course by 

 noting the location of resting seals. 



Mothers and pups appear to be very affectionate, swimming 

 near each other and occasionally touching noses. A little one 

 would try to climb to its mother's perch on a rock. After a while, 

 the mother might lazily roll into the water to join it; later, both 

 might be able to clamber out on the same perch. 



On June 17, a young seal was taken for a specimen — the stom- 

 ach was filled with milk. On July 10, Stevenson and I each ob- 

 served a pup nursing. 



We found a number of deserted pups, probably those whose 

 mothers had been killed. A deserted pup had been picked up at 

 False Pass in May. On June 16, I found a pup on Neumann 

 Island, at the edge of the grass far from water, since the tide had 

 ebbed. A dead pup lay on a hauling place on a small sand island. 

 A very lean pup was found on Glen Island on June 30 ; when we 



