114 NEW VCJKR ZOOLOGILAL SOCIETY. 



are driven inland, entirely away from the rookeries of breeding 

 seal.s. a.>^ easily as a band n\ sheep. The animals are killed, and 

 skinned b\ the naiiws. Tlu- skins are eonnted l)y govcrimient 

 agents, and placed in the salldnuises of the lessees for a month's 

 curing, when the\ are shipped to London, which has always been 

 the world's fur-seal niarlsct. The selecting and killing is acconi- 

 ]dished without noise or .jisiuibance, and everything is done de- 

 cenlK and in order. 



The st'als arrive at the islands in June; their yovnig are l)orn 

 the last days of Jmie and the early ])art <»f July. After the young 

 are born the female seals go to sea to feed, ranging as far as 

 200 miles from the islands, returning at more or less regular 

 intervals to nurse their young. It is during their feeding ex- 

 cursions that they are taken b\- sealing vessels in P)ering Sea. 

 The killing of females at this season is followed by the starvatic^n 

 of all nursing yoinig on the breeding grounds, the loss of young 

 bv starvation corresponding with the number of mother seals 

 taken by vessels. 



The different rookery connnunities are divided up intcj harems, 

 each one jealousy guarded by a large male. The males arrive 

 at the islands and fight furiously for the possession of territory. 

 The females, arriving soon after the males have established them- 

 selves, are divided up among them. The young seals remain with 

 their mc^thers for about a month, not learning to swim initil the 

 latter part of August. The seal herds remain about the islands 

 until late in the fall, when the annual movement into the Pacific 

 Ocean takes place. The class of skins obtained imdi-r govern- 

 ment direction on the Pribilof and I'ommander islands is of the 

 highest quality, the animals selected being three-year-old males 

 of nearly uniform size, killed when the fur is in best condition. 

 The following statement, unpublished in part, shows the number 

 of seals of this class taken on the Pribilof Pslands iluring the 

 past five years : 



1900 21,925 1901 23,066 



1902 22,182 1903 '0..^,^/ 



19'M '3-'7.^ 



Pelagic Scaling. — llu- jxl.igic, or ocean catch, is obtained at 

 sea, in season, and out of seascju. Jt consists of young and old, 

 male and female, all skins being more or less injured by shooting 

 and spearing — tin- two methods eni])lo\i-d in taking seals at sea. 

 While the jjclagic skin has only a value of from $7 to $10. the 

 value of the govennnent skin ranges from $20 to $30. The pelagic 



