694 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



efforts of a pup less tlian two days old to follow its motlier's voice 

 tlirougli a distance of 100 feet of rocky beacli to a point whither she 

 had been carried by an idle bull is abundant proof of its ability. 



Page 62: Mr. Elliott here discusses the possible appearance of epi- 

 demics or other si)eciflc diseases and tinds no evidence of any; but 

 unless he traversed the rookeries and examined them closely in August, 

 he conld not have known anything of the mortality there to be found 

 among the pups as well as the adult animals. An adequate notion of 

 the real condition of the rookeries in this regard can be obtained only 

 by driving oft" the animals and walking over the ground. Mr. Elliott 

 evidently did not do this. The investigations of 1890, though very 

 thorough, failed at once to understand the mischief due to Uncinaria, 

 becauvse no one of the investigators then knew anything of the creature 

 itself. Its existence in 1872-1874 may therefore easily have been over- 

 looked by Mr. Elliott. 



Page 65: Our experience during the past two seasons regarding the 

 keenness of the sense of smell among the seals does not bear out the 

 statement here made by Mr. Elliott and which represents the current 

 traditions of the islands. The odor of a man to the windward may 

 possibly startle a drove of bachelors, some one of them first noticing 

 it and by a rapid movement startling the others. In such case it is no 

 more reasonable to ascribe the effect to the sense of smell than to the 

 sense of hearing. Sounds are more distinctly conveyed also from the 

 windward direction. It is also well known that sharp sounds startle 

 the seals, and the clapping of the hands or the rattling of a stick on a 

 rock is the usual means of urging on a drive. In our investigations 

 we have found it i^ossible to closely approach bachelors and cows from 

 the windward by moving noiselessly and keeping out of sight, and have 

 observed them for long periods at a time without disturbing them. We 

 have also repeatedly passed to the windward of sleeping bachelors with- 

 out disturbing them. Mr. Bristow Adams in 1897 painted white crosses 

 on the backs of two bulls asleep on Tolstoi sands. But it is rarely the 

 case that all members of a flock of seals are asleep at once, and if one 

 animal catches sight of the intruder or hears his step, its movements 

 will set the whole herd in motion. The vision of the fur seal as Mr. 

 Elliott rightly states is imperfect and indistinct. As a result, any 

 moving object fills it with alarm, especially if the object stand out 

 against the sky line. In 1890 when seals were herded in the salt lagoou, 

 a stake set up in the middle of a sand beach was sutficient to frighten 

 away from it the seals endeavoring to escape and was 'quite as effect- 

 ive as a man would have been. Whatever may be the relative impor- 

 tance of the senses of the fur seal, it is not at all certain that the sense 

 of smell is more acute than the others; and whatever may be its func- 

 tion, it certainly does not convey a sense of danger unless the object 

 exciting it is in view of the animal. 



Page 72: It is not true that yearling males and females are alike in 

 size as in behavior and color. The females of one year old are notably 

 smaller than the males of corresponding age — not much larger in Sep- 

 tember than the largest gray pups. The yearling male approximates 

 the 2-year-old female in size. It is not true that "the 3-yearolds and 

 the older cows look exactly alike as far as color goes." In general the 

 young cows are more silvery and their whiskers darker than the older 

 ones, while the pelage of the older females is darker than that of the 

 young, particularly in the region of the throat. 



Page 73: Here is still another estimate of the size of the fur-seal 

 pup. In the first instance it was 3 to 4 pounds j now it is 6 to 7^, and 

 subsequently it is given 5 to 7^ pounds. 



