SEAL LIFE ON THE PHIHILOF ISLANDS. 247 



They sleep more and are less active and moreeasily captured. (Simeon 

 <Jhin-koo-tin.) 



I think the female seal is less active and more easily approaehed. 

 (Peter Church.) 



I have noticed that the females \vlien at sea are less wild and distrust- 

 ful than the bachelor seals, and dive less quickly in the presence of the 

 hunter. After feeding plentifully, or when resting after heavy weather, 

 they appear to fall asleep upon the surface of the water. It is then they 

 become an easy target for the hunters. (James H; Douglass.) 



I think the females sleep more on the water, and are less active and 

 more easily taken than the males. (E. Hofstad.) 



When the females are with pup they sleep more, are less active, and 

 more easily approached than the male seals. (P. Kahiktday.) 



Think cows are much more plentiful on the coast, sleep more, and are 

 more easily captured than the male seals. (John Kowineet.) 



Think cows are less active and require more sleep than the young 

 male seals. (George Lacheek.) 



1 am informed and believe that the reason of there being such a large 

 proportion of females among the coast skins is because the male, which 

 is powerful and strong, usually swims more readily and at a longer 

 distance from the coast, and are so scattered and active and hard to 

 <;atch that it does not pay to hunt them. The female heavy with young 

 easily tires and sleeps on the water, and is easily shot while in that 

 condition. (George Liebes.) 



.Mother seals heavy with young are much easier taken, for they are 

 usually asleep on the water (William H. Long.) 



Q. Why is it, in your opinion, that more female than male seals are 

 killed by the poachers? A. Because, tirst, in the passage of the seals 

 to the islands in the early season the females travel in groups and the 

 males scatter; secondly, after arriving at the islands the males remain 

 on or about the hauling grounds, while the females, having their pups 

 to nurse, go out into the sea to obtain food. 



Q. How do you tell the skin of a female from that of a male? A. P>y 

 the nipples and general appearance. (Anton Melovedott'.) 



As I understand the fact to be, most of the seals killed in the open 

 sea are females. My reasons for this conclusion are that, from my 

 knowledge of the seal, I know that the female when heavy with young, 

 as they are during the early part of the season when on their way to 

 the rookeries, where they are delivered during the months of June and 

 July, are much heavier in the water and much less able to escape, 

 because they are capable of remaining under water to escape for a very 

 much less period of time than when they are not heavy with young, or 

 than the male seal would be. (T. F. Morgan.) 



It is harder to take an old seal than a young one, the older ones being 

 anore on the alert and are not less active when pregnant. ( W. Koberts.) 



Of the seals killed, from 60 to 70 per cent are females, which, during 

 their northerly migration, are heavy with young, slow of movement, 

 and require an extra amount of rest and sleep, thus largely increasing 

 their liability to successful attack. (Z. L. Tanner.) 



I have been told that it is easier to catch the female seal at sea than 

 it is to catch the male seal, but I have no personal knowledge of that 



