ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 171 



Their emaciated bodies and loose and wrinkled skins at the close of 

 the season are in marked contrast to the fat, sleek-looking cows, for 

 the latter have been constantly going and couiing between the rook- 

 eries and the water, so that at any one time there are seldom more 

 than one-half of the females on land. 



Changes at the close of the season. — About the 1st of Augnst 

 the breeding season ends, and the pnj3s, which grow rapidly, now are 

 large and strong enough to move about, so that the rookeries begin to 

 lose their comi^act form and rigid exclusiveness. The bulls begin to 

 go into the water, their places being filled by the younger males, 

 which up to this time have not been allowed by the older males to go 

 upon the rookeries, while the cows and pups spread back over the 

 haulings in scattered groups and occupy more than twice the space 

 that had previously held them. 



Arrival and landing of the bachelor seals. — Meanwhile 

 the young males or bachelor seals have been coming to the hauling 

 grounds, which are covered more or less thickly by them all summer. 

 They do not remain on shore long at any one time, but haul up to 

 sleep and play for awhile, and then return to the water for food. 

 They are so numerous, however, that thousands can always be seen 

 upon the hauling grounds, because all of them are never either on 

 shore or in the water at the same time. The yearling seals, distin- 

 guished by their size and the silvery color of their sides and abdo- 

 mens, do not make their appearance until the latter part of July; 

 then they arrive together in a great body, males and females, and go 

 out upon the hauling grounds in large numljers and play one with 

 the other for hours at a time. The bachelors join them in the sport, 

 and singling out the baby cows form mimic rookeries and imitate the 

 roaring, fighting, and caressing of the bulls in a ludicrous manner. 



Shedding of the pups and their learning to swim. — In Sep- 

 tember and October the pups exchange their coat of black hair, which 

 has been their onlj^ covering from their birth, for one of fur and hair 

 combined, similar in appearance to that of the yearling, and then begin 

 to learn to swim, so as to be ready for their departure from the islands 

 in November and December. Prior to this period many of them are 

 killed by the surf, especially if the season be a stormy one, since they 

 are not strong enough swimmers or expert enough to save themselves 

 from being dashed against the rocks by tlie heavy rollers. The cows 

 remain with their pups and suckle them until all classes have left the 

 islands, usually by the 1st or 10th of December. It is probable that 

 of all the seals born each year an aggregate of about one-half are 

 males. The experiment was tried of examining 100 pups, taken at 

 random from the rookeries, and in that number the sexes were about 

 equally divided. The number of bachelor seals in proportion to the 

 cows would also seem to confirm tlie supj»osition. 



Characteristic changes of the pelage. — There is not the slight- 

 est perceptible difference in appearance between the seals of the two 

 classes, either in the first or in the second year after their birth, but 

 as they grow older they vary and diverge in the tinting of their coats, 

 so as to be readily determined each from the other. The pups, when 

 born, have only short black hair, no fur. This coat is gradually 

 replaced in their first year by a dress of fine elastic fur, of a light-buff 

 color, and of hair longer than the fur, so as to cover it completely and 

 give that silvery gray to their sides and bellies and that dark gray 

 characteristic of their necks and heads. The color of their hair 

 changes in their second year to a uniform dark gray. In their fifth 



