SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIB1LOF ISLANDS. 133 



rugged shore the Alaskan fur seals make their summer home; here they 

 are born and reared for the first six months of their existence; here 

 they come every spring as regular as time, and here they reproduce their 

 species. The career of the fur-seal herd on these shores is not unlike 

 that of any domesticated animal it is simply a stock-breeding question. 



Areas upon which it is agreeable for the females to breed are carefully 

 reserved and set aside for that purpose. 



Each year a sufficient number of breeding bulls are reserved for serv- 

 ice on the rookeries. The utmost care is taken that the future of the 

 herd is not jeopaydi/ed by the injury or death of a female. 



So accustomed have the seals become to the presence of the natives 

 that the timidity and shyness manifested in the ocean is not shown on 

 the islands. In their infancy the pups will approach a native without 

 fear, and later on they are readily handled and the sexes separated, 

 should it be necessary to make a killing of pups for food. In the han- 

 dling, management, and enlargement of the seal herd there is as much 

 amenability to domestication as there is in a band of range cattle. 



The male breeding seals, or bulls, begin to haul out on the breeding 

 rookeries early in May, and they come in more and more rapidly as the 

 month advances, and, selecting their respective stations, lie down and 

 sleep almost continuously until within a few days of the coming of the 

 females, or cows, when they assume a sitting posture, and set up a bel- 

 lowing noise peculiar to themselves, which I suppose to be a " call" 

 to the approaching herd of cows. It is at this time the bull appears at 

 his best and in his most aggressive mood, and none but the physically 

 strong and successful are allowed to remain within striking distance of 

 the veterans. 



The cows begin to haul out in June, and practically they are all on 

 the breeding rookeries by July 15. Immediately on arriving they are 

 taken possession of by the bulls, the strongest and most aggressive 

 securing the greatest number and guarding with jealous care and 

 increasing vigilance. 



As a rule the pups are born soon after the cows reach the shore, 

 though it occasionally happens that a cow will be two or three days on 

 the rookery before bringing forth her young. 



I think the pups are all born by July 22, and by the middle of August 

 the cows have been fertilized for the next year, after which the harems 

 are abandoned and the bulls begin to leave the islands, and the females 

 and bachelors (or young males) intermingle indiscriminately on the 

 rookeries. From the time the bulls haul out in May till they leave in 

 September they neither eat nor drink, and their lean and lanky appear- 

 ance in September is in striking contrast with their rotund form and 

 sleek and glossy coats in May. 



When the pup is born it is utterly helpless and dependent. It is not 

 amphibious, and would drown if put into water. I have often watched 

 the pups near the water's edge when in stormy weather the surf carried 

 them off, and in every instance they drowned as soon as they went into 

 deep water. The pup is entirely dependent on its dam for sustenance, 

 and when it is a few days old she goes into the sea to feed, returning at 

 intervals of a few hours at first, and gradually lengthening the time as 

 the pups grow older and stronger, until she will be sometimes away for 

 a whole week. During these journeys, in my opinion, she goes a dis- 

 tance of from 40 to 200 miles from the islands to feed, and it is at this 

 time she falls a prey to the pelagic hunter. 



Returned to the rookery, the cow goes straight to the spot where she 

 left her pup, and it seems she instantly recognizes it by smelling; and 



