SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 51 



ward along the coasts of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia in January, 

 February, and March, oceuring at varying distances from shore. Following the 

 Alaskan coast north ward ;ind westward, they leave the North Pacific Ocean in June, 

 travn-se the. eastern passes in the Aleutian chain, and proceed at once to the Pribilof 

 Islands. 



5. The old (breeding) males reach the islands much earlier, the first coming the 

 last week in April or early in May. They at. once land and take stands on the rook- 

 cries, where they await tin- arrival of the females. Each male (called a bull) selects 

 a largo rock, on or near which he remains until August, unless driven oil' by stronger 

 bulls, never leaving for a single instant, night or day, and taking neither food nor 

 water. Both before and for some time after the arrival of the females (called cows) 

 the bulls tight savagely among themselves for positions on the rookeries and for pos- 

 session of the cows, and many are. severely wounded. All the bulls are located by 

 June !><>. 



6. The bachelor seals (holluschickie) begin to arrive early in May, and large num- 

 bers are on the hauling grounds by the end of May or lirst week of June. They begin 

 to leave the islands in November, but many remain into December or .January, and 

 sometimes into February. 



7. The cows begin arriving early in June, and soon appear in large schools or 

 droves immense numbers taking their places on the rookeries each day between the 

 middle and the end of the month, the precise dates varying with the weather. They 

 assemble about the old bulls in compact groups, called hareins. The harems are 

 complete early in July, at which time the breeding rookeries attain their maximum 

 si/e and compactness. 



8. The cows give birth to their young soon after taking their places on the harems, 

 in the latter part of June and in Inly, but a few are delayed until August. The 

 period of gestation is between eleven and twelve months. 



il. A single young is born in each instance. The young at birth are about equally 

 divided as to sex. 



10. 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 not until they are four or rive months old. Each mother knows her own pup, and 

 will not permit any other to nurse. This is the reason so many thousand pups starve 

 to death on the rookeries when their mothers are killed at sea. We have repeatedly 

 seen nursing cows come out of the water and search for their younr, often traveling 

 considerable distances and visiting group after group of pups before finding their 

 own. On reaching an assemblage of pups, some of which are awake and others 

 asleep, she rapidly moves about among them, sniffing at each, and then gallops off to 

 the next. Those that are awake advance toward her, with the evident purpose of 

 nursing, but she repels them with a snarl and passes on. When she finds her own 

 she fondles it a moment, turns partly over on her side so as to present her nipples, 

 and it promptly begins to suck. In one instance we saw a mother carry her pup 

 back a distance of 15 meters (50 feet) before allowing it to nurse. It is said that the 

 cows sometimes reoogni/e their young by their cry, a sort of bleat. 



11. Soon alter birth the pups move away from the harems and huddle together in 

 small groups, called " pods," along the borders of the breeding rookeries and at some 

 distance from the water. The small groups gradually unite to form larger groups, 

 which move slowly down to th* water's edge. When six or eight weeks old the 

 pups begin to learn to swim. Not only are the young not born at sea, but if soon 

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



12. The fur seal is polygamous, and the male is at lenst five times as large as the 

 female. As a rule each ma,le serves about fifteen or twenty females, but in some 

 cases as many as fifty or more. 



13. The act of copulation takes place on land, and lasts from five to ten minutes. 

 Most of the cows are served by the middle of July, or soon after the birth of their pups. 

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



14. Many young bulls succeed in securing a few cows behind or away from the 

 breeding harems, particularly late in the season (after the middle of July, at which 

 time the regular harems begin to break up). It is almost certain that many, if not 

 most, of the cows are served for the first time by these young bulls, either on the 

 hauling grounds or along the Avater front 



These young bulls may be distinguished at a glance from those on the regular harems 

 by the circumstance that they are fat and in excellent condition, while those that have 

 fasted for three months on the breeding rookeries are much emaciated and exhausted. 

 The young bulls, even when they have succeeded in capturing a number of cows, 

 can be driven from their stands with little difficulty, while (as is well known) the 

 old bnlla on the harems will die in their tracks rather than leave. 



15. The cows are believed to take the bull first when 2 years old, and deliver their 

 first pup when 3 years old. 



1(5. Bulls first take stands on the breeding rookeries when 6 or 7 years old. Before 

 this they are not powerful enough to fight the older bulls for positions on the harems. 



