178 CARNIVORA. 



once seen one slightly mottled with white spots. Elliott 

 states that a million Seals are horn annually, of which 

 one-half are males, and one-half females ; as yearlings, 

 only ahout 500,000 return the next year, but the 

 following year the percentage lost is much less. He 

 also says that 5,000 to 6,000 pups are killed annually 

 by the natives for food, and that pigs feed on the bodies 

 of Seals. The flesh is not esteemed by everybody, but 

 when every particle of blubber has been removed, and it 

 has been cut in slices, soaked in salt water, and fried in 

 butter, it is very palatable. The liver is wholesome. 



Fur Seals often avoid capture by throwing themselves 

 over cliffs, which are sometimes 200 feet high ; at 50 to 

 60 feet they appear to suffer no hurt. The average age 

 of the males, according to Elliott, is 15 to 20 years, 

 and of the females 9 to 10 years. It has recently been 

 stated that the female Seal does not feed during the 

 time she suckles her young. 



The chief breeding-place of this Seal is the Hutchinson 

 Hill Eookery on St. Paul's Island. It sleeps as often at 

 sea as on land, floating on its back. It is in the finest 

 condition from June 14th to August 1st. 



The skins are usually bought for American, Canadian, 

 French, and English consumption. In former times 

 many were sold to the Chinese. 



Elliott, in his "Seal Islands of Alaska," says: — 

 " From the time of the first arrivals in May up to the 

 first of June, or as late as the middle of this month, if 

 the weather be clear, is an interval when everything 

 seems quiet, very few Seals are added to the pioneers. 

 By the first of June, however, or thereabouts, the foggy, 

 humid weather of summer sets in, and with it the bull 

 Seals come up by hundreds and thousands, and locate 

 themselves in advantageous positions for the reception 



