98 ALASKA FISHERIES AND FUR INDUSTRIES IN 1917. 



May 26 and newborn young have been seen in September. Tlie 

 adult males, called bulls, are all in position when the cows come and 

 dot the breeding ground checker-board fashion. The cow seems to 

 have no choice of a rookery nor to any great extent of a bull. When 

 she is ready to land she ventures out shyly but a short distance at 

 first and is interce])ted by one of the water-line tier of bulls. She 

 then slips from one bull to another back up through the breeding area 

 toward the rear. Probably this is mostly done at night, but it is 

 commonly observed in the day. After she finally becomes settled 

 she lies down quietly to sleep. 



The newborn pup is jet black and weighs 10 to 12 pounds. Its 

 eyes are open and it moves around within 15 minutes usually. The 

 mother cares little for it, as a rule. She has been seen to lift it out 

 of crevices of rocks and out of the way of the bull as he stampedes 

 across the harem area. When very young the mother will often 

 stand by it against man. But after she once returns to the water and 

 again comes back she will desert the pup on the slightest provocation. 



Pups begin to swim in the first half of August while their hair is 

 still black, but not until they have completely shed the milk denti- 

 tion. Soon after taking to the water they begin to shed the black 

 hair and by the end of September it has been replaced on most of 

 them by a coat of glistening silvery gray. They then swim fartiior 

 and farther from the parent rookery and eventually cruise, in schools, 

 completely around the islands. But they return to land periodically, 

 probably to the parent rookery in every case, where the mothers come 

 to meet them. Here they nurse and upon the rich milk they get 

 exceedingly fat. They have not been known to feed upon anything 

 except milk before they leave the islands for the winter migration. 

 Before they depart many weigh more than 50 pounds. In November 

 they go south through the Aleutian passes. 



Each cow weighs 50 to 100 pounds and is of the same color as the 

 males, 2, 3, and 4 years old, as well as of the same size. Their 

 whiskers are black the first three years, but begin to turn white in 

 the fourth year. Thus they are very difficult to distinguish from the 

 bachelors. 



The bulls are very much larger than the cows. They weigh 400 or 

 500 pounds and are usually of a rusty red color. They have a bristly 

 mane about 2 inches long on the back of the neck and are vicious and 

 ugly in disposition. They arrive at the islands from the end of April 

 to the height of the breeding season. Here they soon haul out and 



fet into position to await the coming of the cows. Some of them 

 ave to wait two or three weeks and some do not get cows at all. They 

 establish themselves on an average of 18 feet apart and remain on 

 their small plats, called harem areas, without food or drink until 

 August 1 or later. During this time they live on a thick layer of 

 blubber with which they are covered when they arrive. Before 

 leaving they become ven^ thin. Much sparring and blufiing take 

 place between neighbors and occasionally there is a light to the finish, 

 m which the loser is driven to sea. 



Cows quietly and gradually slip into the rookeries thus fully occu- 

 pied by buUs. But there are not enough to make each harem of full 

 capacity for every buU. Therefore the harems around the rear 

 margins are usually very small, containing only one or a few cows, 



