264 



XATUEAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IX ALASKA. 



Phoca vitflina Linn. Ilarbor Seal (Esk. yoi-i/il;'). 

 McdSiinments of four skulh of P. i-itiilin 



List of S2)edmeiis. 



Biographical notes. — This species is a widely-spread and common one aloug tlie entire coast of 

 Alaska, except on the extreme uortheru portion, where it is comparatively rare. It is not abundant 

 about Point Barrow, but from the vicinity of Cape Lisburne south to Bering Straits it is very 

 common. In Eschscholtz Bay, at the bead of Kotzebue Sound, we found them common in the 

 summer of ISSl, and they were also numerous along the Arctic coast of Siberia from the straits 

 to North Cape. South of the straits in Bering Sea this is a common species everywhere along both 

 the American and Siberian coasts and along the Aleutian Islands as well as the Fur Seal group 

 and the other islauds of this sea. They are also common along the coast of the Pacific from tlie 

 Aleutian Islands, east and south, to the southern point of the Territory. 



As a rule they are found singly, and are shot upon the ice or are shot or speared in the water. 

 After the last of May they are rarely shot in the water, as at that season their coat of blubber is 

 very thin, and they sink at once. 



Eocky islands, like those of the Aleutiau chain and the Fur Seal group, are favored by these 

 animals, but in the former islands they have been driven away from many places by persistent 

 hunting. They are less disturbed on the Fur Seal Islands, and are more common there than in 

 any other locality known to me. There, according to Elliott, they gather into groups of thirty 

 individuals, or thereabouts, on the shore, keeping close to the water-line, ready to plunge in at 

 the first alarm. They are resident there, and bring forth their young on the outlying rocks in 

 spring. Xorth of these islauds the young are born upon the ice daring April and May. 



The B.skimo obtain many of the young at this season, and when only a few days old they are 

 odd-looking little beasts. They are covered with a thick coat of slightly curly or "crinkled" white 

 hair an inch or so long. This hair is silky, and makes very warm, handsome mittens. 



The adults make round holes through thin places in the ice, working from below, or come out 

 through the tide cracks and remain basking in the sun on the edge of the openings a large portion 

 of the time at this season. 



Before the young are born the parents are shy and watchful when hauled out on the ice, and after 

 the young appear they become doubly wary. At this time the foxes and ravens wander about on 

 the ice and destroy many of the young before they learn to take care of themselves. When a pup 



