400 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. 



females. The reserves were now only about half as numerous- 

 as the beachmasters. As a result of these conditions, the fe- 

 males were imx)erfectly covered, and instead of going in August 

 to the beaches remained on the breeding-grounds until their 

 second heat, herding with the younger or less matured males, 

 while the young Seals learned to swim from the shores of the 

 rookeries. Another marked result was that on the rookeries the 

 beachmasters were so far separated and had each so many more 

 females that there was less occasion for fighting, and conse- 

 quently less uproar and destruction from wounds. At this date 

 occurred the change in the system of killing, the younger males 

 being taken instead of the half-bulls. Since this time the rel- 

 ative number of breeding males has been steadily increasing. 

 It is still, however, below the proper proportion, and under the 

 present system will require three years at least to supply the 

 deficiency. The period of gestation being nearly one year, it 

 is necessarj' that the females should be all impregnated in their 

 first heat, lest, as was the case in 1876, early storms occur and 

 force the late-born young to enter the sea before they have ac- 

 quired suflQcient strength and endurance to insure their safety. 

 Similar changes in their movements and relative numbers were 

 noticed in the holluschucke or bachelor class. This class in- 

 cludes all under six years old, with a very small number of 

 superannuated males, and alko the half-bulls. The custom of 

 killing the younger Seals for their skins, by the Eussians, had 

 allowed so large a number of half-bulls to mature every year 

 that in 1869 the proportion of half-bulls to the whole number 

 was fully 20 per cent., but in 1871, 1872, and 1873, when this 

 class were taken for their skins, it decreased to less than 5 per 

 cent., and did not show any perceptible increase until 1876. 



"In 1869, the rookeries, where they extended along the shore,, 

 were not continuous, but broken into sections by the small gul- 

 lies formed by the streams from the melting snows in spring. 

 These open spaces appeared to be regarded by all classes as 

 neutral ground, and all the Seals not old enough to maintain a 

 position on the breeding-i)laces passed through them to the up- 

 lands in the rear of the rookery, going and returning at will. 

 When on the upland these younger Seals occupied places near 

 the reserves. When they were wanted for their skins the men 

 passed rapidly between them and the reserves, cutting them off 

 from these open passages and turning them inland. Here the 

 small squads collected from the different divisions were gath- 



