SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 265 



yearlings and very young bachelors was about equal; no bulls were 

 ever taken. (Norman Hodgson.) 



Those that I secured in Bering Sea were nearly all females and had 

 given birth to their young and were in milk. Our vessel captured 

 about 4<>0 seals at a distance of about 100 miles from the Pribilof 

 Islands, most all of which were cows in milk. (Alfred Irving.) 



We entered the sea and caught about a thousand there. We sealed 

 all over on this side of Bering Sea, sometimes being over 150 miles oft 

 the seal islands, and sometimes we were closer. I did not pay any 

 attention to the proportion of females, but 1 know we skinned a great 

 many that were giving milk, because the milk would run from their 

 breasts onto the deck when they were being skinned. We killed mother 

 seals in milk over 100 miles from the seal islands. We generally shoot 

 them when they are asleep on the water. * * * We caught between 

 300 and 400 seals on the coast and 000 in Bering Sea. We sealed on 

 the American side of Bering Sea around the Pribilof Islands, any- 

 where from 10 to 150 miles off. The capture of 181)0 was about the 

 same in proportion to sex as the year before. (James Kean.) 



We entered Bering Sea about the latter part of July and captured 

 2(>0 seals from 20 to 100 miles off the seal islands. A large proportion 

 of them were females nursing their young and their teats were large 

 and full of milk. (James Kennedy.) 



I have observed that those killed in the North Pacific were mostly 

 females carrying their young and were generally caught while asleep 

 on the water. (James Kiernan.) 



The same day after a chase of an hour we were seized by the U. S. S. 

 Mohican. The total catch of seals at the time of seizure was 48, and 

 at least 20 were females, the majority of which were in milk. All the 

 seals were taken from 120 to 180 miles from St. George Island. (Francis 

 E. King-Hall.) 



When in Bering Sea we are usually from 50 to 150 miles from the 

 Pribilof Islands. (Andrew Laing.) 



I have killed females in milk in Unimak Pass, and even out in the 

 Pacific Ocean, 200 miles from the land. (E. N. Lawsoii.) 



In Bering Sea, where we obtained about 400 skins, males and females 

 in about equal numbers were taken. The females were mostly nursing 

 cows, while the males were young ones, between the ages of 2 and 5 

 years. (James E. Lennan.) 



Another fact in connection with open-sea sealing is that the great 

 majority of seals killed are females, and that a great part of the females 

 are pregnant, or in milk. The milking females are most all killed 

 while visiting the feeding grounds, which are distant 40 or (>0 miles, or 

 even farther from the islands. The female necessarily feeds so that she 

 can supply nourishment for her young, while the males during the sum- 

 mer seldom leave the islands. This accounts for the large number of 

 females killed in Bering Sea. (A. P. Loud.) 



Q. Did you ever kill any seals later in the season that were giving 

 milk? A. Yes, sir. (Alexander McLean.) 



Those we caught in Bering Sea were mostly all females with milk in 

 their breasts. * * The next season, 1890, we got on the way up 

 between 100 and 200 seals, and then we entered Bering Sea about the 



