8G 



BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FLSH COMMISSION. 



concerning this qnestion continued tliiough a number of year.s. It can not be too 

 often euii)liasizeil tbat there is a great latitude of date in the e\ents of seal life,' and 

 assuredly the begiiinino- of the stagy condition of the skin is no more bound to a 

 rigid observation of the calendar than the other pheuouiena. Moreover, we do not at 

 all know the canses which are responsible for these tlnctuations; we do not know the 

 conditions whicli accelerate the advent of the stagy season or postpone it. Possibly 

 cold and damp weather may retard it. In that case we might expect the skins to 

 become stagy somewhat later in lS9o. The only definite record, so far as the Com- 

 mander Islands are concerned, that 1 am aware of is the statement by the liritisii 

 Bering Sea Commission (llep. Behring Sea Connn., lS9li, p. 50) that " In 1891 we found 

 the 'stagy' season was just beginning on the Commander Islands on the 1st of 

 September." In 189.") tliere were 14 stagy skins taken in the drive on September 10. 

 The "beginning" must, therefore, have been somewhat earlier — enough to show that 

 in this respect 1895 is not extravagantly late. 



The lack of reliable inforiinitioii concerning the beginning of the stagy season in 

 earlier years is easily explainable by the fact that the killing season was over long 

 before there was any suspicion of staginess. The question then was not at all 

 "When does the stagy season begin?" but, on the contrary, "When does it end?" 

 The reason of this was that the natives were anxious to begin the autumnal catch as 

 early as possible, in order to get fresh meat, which they had been obliged to be without 

 since the end of the killing season. Thus I find in the I'ecords of Bering Island station 

 for 187S that on October 13 it was contemplated to take a drive in order to get fresh 

 meat. The "chief wished first to ascertain how skins looked at present, supposing 

 they wei'e too stagy yet," and accordingly went himself to the rookery, whence on the 

 1< th lie returned with 9 skins, reporting that "far was good." The drive was 

 therefore made and 520 seals taken on October 18.- 



The explanation of the fact that nowadays many phenomena appear to hapjie.]! 

 later is easy enough. During the years of plenty very little attention was paid to 

 them except in the most general way. Such a tiling as detailed observations and 

 records thronghoutthe season for a number of years suflicientto furnish exact data for 

 reliable deductions were (and, as a rule, are yet) unknown. This is particularly true 

 of phenomena happening after the tinisliing of the catch. But now, in the days of 

 threatened commercial extinction, when the rookeries and the seals are under constant 

 and anxious inspection, many things ap])eai' unusual and new. The killing season being 

 extended in order to fill the recjuired complement of skins, the impression easily takes 

 hold that the phenomena particularly noticed during the thus belated season are 

 themselves likewise belated. 



'The first arrivals ou Bering Island rookeries are shown in the following statement: 



'The difference from the Pribylof Islands will be noted, as in the latter the natives were allowet' 

 to take seals for food in the stagy season. (See, for instance, Fur Seal Arb., v, pp. 714, 715.) 



