334 NOETH AMERICAN FAUNA [No. 55 



modified as swimming flippers without distinct digits or nails; hind feet 

 reversible and useful in walking as well as swimming ; toes indicated by terminal 

 lobes, the three middle toes with small subterminal nails; skull light with 

 slight crests and long, narrow interorbital ridge; molars %, small and sharp 

 pointed ; hair short, densely filled with soft underfur. Color dark umber brown 

 or blackish, with gray tips to the outer hairs and buffy brown base of underfur ; 

 females and young more grayish (pi. 47, A). 



Measurements. Adult males : Total length, 7 to 8 feet ; tail, 2 inches ; ear, 

 2 inches. Females : Total length, 4 feet ; tail, 2 inches ; ear, 2 inches. Weight 

 of old males, when fat, 500 to 700 pounds; females 70 to 100 pounds; young 

 at birth 12 pounds. 



Distribution <md habitat. American coastal region of the Pacific 

 Ocean, breeding on the Pribilof Islands and migrating south and 

 eastward, some of the females wandering as far down the coast as 

 southern California. Charles Bryant speaks of their abundance 

 along the coast of Oregon and Washington Territory in 1869 (Allen, 

 1870, p. 88). C. H. Townsend's map, in part 3 of the Sea Investi- 

 gations Report (1899, opposite p. 234)-, shows great numbers of rec- 

 ords of capture of fur seals by pelagic sealers along the coast of 

 Oregon in January, February, March, and April. They are still of 

 common occurrence along the coast of Washington and California, 

 but little is heard of them on the Oregon coast. This may be due 

 to the fact that no one is hunting them and that they are never seen 

 on shore and are not generally distinguished in the water from the 

 harbor seal and sea lions. 



On February 1, 1921, an immature fur seal in badly emaciated 

 condition came ashore on the beach at Netarts Bay, and a few hours 

 later was found dead on the sand just above the breakers (Jewett, 

 1921, p. 235). Again on February 28, 1925, a young Alaska fur seal 

 was captured in Tillampok Bay by a fisherman and the skin sent to 

 Stanley G. Jewett for identification (Jewett, 1925, p. 200). These 

 seem to be the only recent records of fur seals on the coast of Oregon 



General habits. Apparently all of the Alaska fur seals gather on 

 the Pribilof Islands during the summer, the old males returning to 

 the islands in May, the adult females in June and July, the 2-year 

 olds mainly in July, and the yearlings in August and early Septem 

 ber. After the prolonged breeding season, all leave the islands by 

 the end of November and scatter to their feeding grounds in the 

 open ocean and along the shores. They do not come on land again 

 until the following spring. 



Breeding habits. The fur seals are highly polygamous. The olc 

 males gather as many females about them as they can protect from 

 rivals, sometimes 100 or more. The females begin to arrive on the 

 breeding grounds soon after the first of June and give birth to a 

 single pup within a few days, or sometimes within a few hours, o: 

 their arrival. The majority of the pups are born between June 20 

 and July 20, but a few births occur up to the first week in August 

 The female accepts the male a few days after the pup is born, bu 

 does not leave the island to feed for some days later. The pups are 

 nursed on shore for several weeks longer before they go into the 

 water and learn to swim, but apparently are weaned before the} 

 leave the islands for the season. 



Food habits. Only in case of the nursing pups is any food founc 

 in the stomachs of seals while on land, but the stomachs of those 

 killed while feeding in Bering Sea contain mainly squid, pollock 



