66 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



He adds the remark : 



I have no difficulty to decide as to a bird in a molting condition or in full brooding plumage, or 

 a mammal when casting its hair, so that I cannot understand why it should be so difficult to tell a 

 stagy seal. 



The trouble here arises from a misunderstanding of what is meant by "staginess." 

 It does not designate any marked difference in quantity of the fur. It has chiefly 

 to do with the condition of the water hair. During the months of August, September, 

 and October the water hairs are gradually replaced by a new growth. While this 

 new hair is growing and before it has attained its full length it sticks tightly, and is 

 very difficult to remove in unhairiug the skin in the process of dressing. 1 The practical 

 impossibility of removing all the short hairs depreciates the value of the skins. When 

 the seals are taken on the islands in June and July the skins are approaching the time 

 when these hairs are ready to fall out, and they are consequently more easily removed. 

 As a large part of the value of the skin is the result of the labor put upon it in 

 preparation, anything which tends to increase this labor decreases the value of the 

 pelt in the raw state. 



To the eye of the casual or untrained observer the skin of the seal taken in 

 August or September does not show staginess. If the fur is parted, however, the 

 short hair can be seen among the fur and hidden by it. 



Under these conditions it is not strange that sealers and others do not recognize 

 the seals as stagy. Staginess is a condition fully recognized and appreciated only 

 by the furrier. In deference to his wishes, the seals on the islands are not taken while 

 they are in this condition. As a result, for this reason among others, the island catch 

 is regarded as superior to the catch taken at sea. The pelagic sealer does not respect 

 the stagy season, and declares that he takes no stagy seals, but the price he obtains 

 for his skins clearly indicates that the furrier does not agree with him. 



THE ARRIVAL OF THE YOUNGER SEALS. 



There remains yet to be recorded the arrival of the young 1 and 2 year old 

 females. Their brothers, we found, arrive at the islands about the middle of July 

 and spend their time on the hauling grounds. Whether the young females come with 

 them to the vicinity of the islands or are associated with them on the migrations is 

 not known. But they do not associate with them to any great extent on the islands. 



The 2-year-olds come to the rookeries about the first of August. They take 

 up their places in the old harems or in new and temporary ones in charge of young 

 bulls on the water front and in the rear of the regular breeding grounds. Here they 

 are served by the bulls and return to the water. 



1 The difficulties in the way of treating stagy skins are well put in the following extract from 

 a letter by Mr. Isaac Liebes, of the firm of H. Liebes & Co., furriers, of San Francisco, Cal. : 



"The short or water hair (in stagy skins) can never be entirely removed, and in attempting to 

 do so a great deal of the wool is pulled out with the hair, which of course deteriorates the quality. 

 Then again, the stumps of the hair being left in the leather (as they cannot be pulled out, but are cut 

 off), makes the pelt stiff and harsh, so that after it is prepared the stagy skin can be clearly indicated 

 by the color and texture of the leather. The water hairs can never be removed from the thin sides of 

 the, animal, where the fur is shorter than in the back, and in the process of machining, which these 

 skins undergo, the wool is separated so as to expose the stiff hairs, which are then cut out, but the 

 sides, being so short in fur, the machine cannot successfully separate the hair from the wool." 



