An aliifiiu'it hurt'iii. 'JMie I)Li11 is at ihv vxtvvnw ri^flit 



these countries were profiting at the expense of others by killing fur seals 

 on the open sea. 



The regulated killing of young males on land has caused no decrease in 

 the fur seal herd any more than the systematic killing of cattle and sheep 

 depletes the stock-raiser's herds and flocks. This is due to the fact that the 

 fur seal is highly polygamous, the average family consisting of a male and 

 thirty females, while the birth rate of the sexes is equal. There is thus a 

 large number of bachelor seals (as they are appropriately called) and these 

 it is, that under certain restrictions, are killed on land. These bachelors 

 keep by themselves, approaching the breeding grounds, or rookeries, literally 

 at the peril of their lives, and hang about the islands or gather on land in 

 great bands at certain well-defined places, known as "hauling grounds," 

 where they sleep for days at a time. 



Our fur seal group in the Museum is necessarily untrue to nature because 

 in endeavoring to give a comprehensive idea of the fur seals, it shows a 



A sleeping bull with a ijortion of his family. Kitovi rookery, .St. Paul Island, 1897 



