DR. C. HART MERRIAJVf. 41d 



on tliG harems. The period of gestatiou is between eleven and twelve 

 months. 



7. A single young is born in each instance. The young at birth are 

 about equally divided as to sex. 



S. The act of nursing is performed on land, never in the water. It 

 is necessary, therefore, for the cows to remain at the islands until the 

 young are weaned, which is when they are 4 or 5 months old. 



9. The fur-seal is polygamous and the male is at least three times as 

 large as the female. Each male serves tifteen to twenty-five females. 



10. Co])ulation takes place on land. Most of the cows are served by 

 the middle of July, or soon after the birtli of their pups. They then 

 take to the water and come and go for food while nursing. 



11. The pups huddle together in small groups called "pods," at some 

 distance from the water. When 6 or 8 weeks old they move down to 

 the water's edge and learn to SAvim. The pups are not born at sea, and 

 if soon after birth they are washed into the sea they are drowned. 



12. The cows are believed to take the bull first Avhen 2 years old, and 

 deliver their first i)ui^ when 3 years old. 



13. Bulls first take stands on the breeding rookeries when C or 7 

 years old. Before this they are not powerful enough to fight the older 

 bulls for positions on the harems. 



14. Cows when nursing, and the nonbreeding seals, regularly travel 

 long distances to feed. They are commonly found 100 or 150 miles from 

 the islands and sometimes at greater distances. 



15. The food of the fur-seal consists of fish, squids, crustaceans, and 

 probably other forms of marine hfe also. 



10. The great majority of cows, jmps, and such of the breeding bulls 

 as have not already gone, leave the islands about the middle of Novem- 

 ber, the date varying considerably with the season. 



17. The nonbreeding male seals (" hoUuschickie "), together with a 

 few old bulls, remain until January, and in rare instances even untd 

 February. 



18. The fur-seal as a species isi)resent at the Pribilof Islands eight or 

 nine months of the year, or from two-thirds to three-fourths of the time, 

 and in inild winters sometimes during the entire year. The breeding 

 bulls arrive earliest and remain continuously on the islands about four 

 months; the breeding cows remain about six mouths, and the non- 

 breeding male seals about eight or nine mouths, and sometimes during 

 the entire year. • 



SEALS KILLED ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



19. The only seals killed for commercial purposes at the Seal Islands 

 are nord)reeding males (under five or six years of .age, called "hoUus- 

 chickie"). They come up on the rookeries a])art from the breeding- 

 seals, and large numbers are present by the latter part of May. They 

 constantly pass back and forth from the water to the hauling grounds. 

 These animals are driven by the natives (Aleuts) from the hauling 

 grounds to the killing grounds, where they are divided up into little 

 groups. Those selected as of suitable size are killed with a club by a 

 blow on the head; the others go into the Avater and soon reappear on 

 the hauling grounds. In this way about one hundred thousand young 

 males have been killed annually on the Pribilof Islands for twenty 

 years. 



20. In addition to the commercial killing above described, a number 

 of male pups were formerly killed each year to furnish food for the 

 natives, but the killing of x)ups is now i)rohibited by the Government. 



