SKAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 323 



theory until they show by clearest proof that the decline of the rook- 

 eries begai) prior to the development of pelagic sealing, and also get 

 rid of the awkward fact that for the first twelve or fifteen years there 

 was no difficulty in securing : the annual quota allowed bylaw. Why 

 did this alleged decadence through excessive killing on land take so 

 long to manifest itself? Certainly the evils of indiscrimination is not 

 inherent in land killing; on the contrary, selection can be exercised at 

 the rookeries as readily as it ran be at the abattoir, and there is no 

 more necessity for molesting the females than there would be for a 

 farmer to ship fill of his herd to Kansas City and have the selection of 

 the killable males made at the stock yards. The briefest recital of the 

 facts of seal life will make this plain. 



THE FACTS OF SEAL LIFE. 



The northern fur seals, unlike their southern relatives, are forced each 

 year by Arctic cold and the necessity for food to leave their homes on 

 the approach of winter and to seek the southern waters and the abun- 

 dant fish supply along the continental shores. The migration routes 

 of the Alaskan and Asiatic herds do not coalesce, nor do the seals 

 intermingle. Late in April or early in May, depending upon the char- 

 acter of the season, the breeding males, bulls, or " seecatchie," first 

 return to their resorts from this migration. About a month later the 

 mature females or u matkie'' begin to seek the breeding grounds, and 

 between the time of arrival of these two classes the young males or 

 u hollustchikie" are swimming in the water near the rookery fronts or 

 hauling out upon the hauling grounds some distance away from the 

 areas occupied by the mature seals. The young males are not permit- 

 ted to gather upon the breeding grounds until, by reason of age and 

 strength, they are able to maintain a position there. 



Each old bull when he arrives in the spring selects and maintains, 

 often by desperate combat, a little area upon which he hopes to estab- 

 lish his household. The male weighs four or five times as much as his 

 consort, and, as is usually the case where the male preponderates in 

 size, they are extremely polygamous. Their vitality and virility is 

 almost beyond belief. For eighty or ninety days, while they are mak- 

 ing secure their position, and while guarding and presiding over their 

 families or " harems/' they are debarred from both food and water. 

 When the season of propagation is past they again betake themselves 

 to the sea, and the breeding grounds are given up to the intermingling 

 of young males, females, and pups, but during that eighty or ninety 

 days the immature males from 1 to 5 years of age have been compelled 

 to consort together upon the hauling grounds, and thus there is given 

 an opportunity without in any way interfering with the course of events 

 upon the breeding grounds, to drive away, select, and slaughter such 

 of these young males as will furnish desirable pelts. These are the 

 only skins shipped from the islands. 



Can anyone successfully maintain that in the case of polygamous 

 animals the taking of the surplus male life and reserving the females 

 can destroy the herd? If this can be demonstrated, then our stock- 

 raisers are at fault, and the evidence derived from Russian manage- 

 ment goes for naught. 



THE FACTS OF PELAGIC SEALING. 



Before the breath of life can be breathed into this theory of decadence 

 through excessive killing on the islands there must be removed from 



