218 



FUE-SEAL HEED OF ALASKA. 



Lucas says that the 2-year-old 

 cows do not come out on the 

 rookeries : 



American Museum 



OF Natural History, 

 New York, February 24, 1912. 



Dear Sir: Absence from the city has 

 delayed ray replying to your favor of 

 P'ebruary 21, which I am very glad to 

 receive. 



Let me say, first, that my exact knowl- 

 edge in regard to the killing of seals under 

 2 years of age during the years 1909 and 

 1910 must, like that of others who did not 

 see the actual killing, be based on the 

 published statement of their weights. 



As to the question of 2-year-old females 

 not occurring on the rookeries, I may say 

 that the yearlings and the 2-year-olds 

 come to the islands late. Pardon me for 

 saying that this statement of mine is borne 

 out by the observations of all naturalists 

 who have been on the Pribilof Islands. 

 My report on the Breeding Habits of the 

 Pribilof Fur Seal was based on the obser- 

 vations of our entire jjarty during the two 

 seasons there, and are sup])orted by the 

 English naturalists D'Arcy W. Thompson 

 and G. E. H. Barrett Hamilton. We 

 found, as I have stated, that the 2-year- 

 old female seals are not in the rookeries; 

 that the majority of them appear on the 

 islands after the 1st of August, and that 

 very few are there before the middle of 

 July. This was one of the distinct addi- 

 tions that we were able to make to the 

 natural history of the fur seal, and it 

 helped out in a matter of which Mr. 

 Elliott, as stated in his 1873 report, was 

 confessedly ignorant. 



If you would be good enough to read the 

 little items on pages 44, 47, and 53 of my 

 report on the Breeding Habits of the 

 Pribilof F'ur Seals, I will be much obliged, 

 and I trust that you will kindly take the 

 necessary time to do so. I sent Mr. Flood 

 my last available copy of this report, but 

 it is included in part 3, Report of the f^ur 

 Seal Investigations for 1896 and 1897, 

 which it will be easy for you to have 

 brought to you. My other copies are 

 packed away in boxes, but if I can un- 

 earth one I shall be most happy to do so. 



Pardon me for troubling you with a 

 number of explanatory details, but I wish 

 above all things to make it clear that I am 

 not speaking by hearsay, or making state- 

 ments without foundation, but that I am 

 writing of matters with which I have a 

 direct acquaintance. 



Faithfully, yours, 



F. A. Lucas. 



Hon. Edward W. Townsend, 

 Committee on the Library, 

 House of Represen tatives. 



(Hearing No. 14, pp. 947, 948. July 25, 

 1912.) 



But Joi'danfinds them there just 

 where Elliott said they were in 

 1872-1890:' 



official journal of the government 

 agent's office. 

 St. Pauls Island, Alaska, 



Saturday, August 1, 1896. 

 Dr. Jordan assisted by the natives drove 

 up three small harems from Garbotch 

 Rookery, and upon investigation found 

 that there were a number of 2-year-old 

 virgin cows among them. 



1 It must be borne in mind that perhaps ten or 

 twelve per cent of the entire number of breeding 

 females were yearlings last season, and come up onto 

 these breeding groimds now as virgins, for the first 

 time during this season — as two-year-old cows. 

 They, of course, bear no young. (Monograph of the 

 Seal Islands, 1872-82; Elliott, p. 50. Spl. Bulletin, 

 170; U. S. Fish Commission, 1882.) 



