SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIB1LOF ISLANDS. 81 



on shore. Cows never arrive at tlie islands with new-born pups. But the impossi- 

 bility of birth in the water is best proved by the fact that the pup when first born is 

 purely a land animal in all its habits. It does not voluntarily approach the water 

 till it is several weeks old, and then it is obliged to learn to swim. A snri will some- 

 tinn's \\ash the young pups oil' the rocks, when they are sure to be drowned. The 

 pups can not swim at birth, but must be taught by their mothers. A pup would 

 drown if thrown into the sea belore learning to swim. 



Copulation in the water 1 believe to be impossible, for the act is violent, of long 

 duration, and in general character similar to that performed by land animals. 



1 believe that the seals leave the vicinity of the islands mainly on account of the 

 severity of the winter. Of course, I do not mean to say that they would remain on 

 the shore all the year round, as many of them do throughout the whole of the sum- 

 mer, for they \\oiild be obliged to take to the water to obtain food. What I mean is 

 that they would not go so far away as they now do, but would remain around the 

 islands, and thus give additional proof of the unquestionable fact that they regard 

 them as their homn. I base this statement upon the fact that during mild winters I 

 have myself seen them in large numbers off the Commander Islands. They are olten 

 reported about 50 miles south of the westernmost of the Aleutian Islands and the 

 Kamchatka Coast. This would be in accord with the habits of the seals of the South- 

 ern Hemisphere, which, I am informed, are found in the same locality, more or less, 

 at all seasons. The seals generally leave the Commander Islands by the middle of 

 November, by which time it has become cold and stormy, but in mild winters they 

 have been on the islands as late as December. 



I do not think that fur seals should be classed with wild animals any more than 

 sheep or cattle when out on large pasturing grounds. Seals, unless needlessly 

 frightened, become more or less accustomed to the sight of man among them on the 

 rookeries, and while on land are at all times under his complete control. A few men 

 can drive a large number of them without difficulty. They are intelligent to a very 

 high degree, and can be made to become in a short time pets. The breeding males 

 or bulls are alone aggressive. 



Seais are polygamous, and the powers of fertilization of the male are very great. 

 Since the births are about equally distributed between males and females, it follows 

 that under natural conditions there would be a great excess of male life over that 

 actually needed for the propagation of the species, and it is, as in the case of so 

 many other animals, for the positive benefit of the herd as a whole that a portion of 

 this excess of male life be killed off before it is of sufficient age to go oil the rook- 

 eries. If not killed off the competition by the bulls upon the rookeries lor females 

 would be destructive of much lite. This competition is already tierce enough. 



During some of the years prior to the time of my arrival on the islands there had 

 been considerable indiscriminate killing of seals without regard to age or sex; but 

 during the fifteen years of my management of the Commander Islands rookeries all 

 seals which have been killed constituted a portion of the excess of males above 

 referred to, and known as bachelors, or hollus< hickie. This is why the rookeries are 

 to-day in a much better condition than when I first went to the Commander Islands, 

 notwithstanding that until the year 1891 a gradually increasing number of large 

 skins has been taken. From 1886 to 1890 the average annual catch was about 50,000, 

 the skins all being large. The last two years I have reduced the catches, because I 

 now think 50,000 skins somewhat in excess of what the rookeries can yield, and for 

 other causes which I will mention later. I feel very sure that the great cause of 

 this diminution is pelagic sealing. 



This year I have counted over 3,500 skins seized on poaching vessels, and have found 

 91) p;T cent to be skins of females. They were skins taken from Commander Island 

 seals. 



As to skins taken near Pribilof Islands I counted the skins seized in the Rosa Olsen 

 and found two-thirds of them were skins of females. These were taken, as the log 

 book of the Kosa Olscn shows, over 80 miles from shore. 



I consider it a false argument to say that the killing of a proper portion of the 

 excess of male life is bad, merely because it is an interference with the order of 

 nature. If not interfered with, nature will produce an overpopulation of the rook- 

 eries, which would, of course, be a bad thing. By the present mode of killing a 

 certain number of young males, population is regulated. No tacts can be brought 

 forward to show that this method is not the right one. Past experience shows that 

 it is right. 



The method is not proved to be bad by showing that during some years too many 

 males may have been killed, and that the rookeries have thereby suffered. When 

 such mistakes have been made they can be corrected by reducing the number of 

 males to be killed for a few years; for the most absolute control can be exercised 

 over the herd while it is on land. I claim that the method now pursued, when 

 executed under proper regulations, is in theory and practice the only one by which 

 sealing can be carried on commercially without injuring the vitality of the herd 



S. Doc. 137, pt. 



