40 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



a large rock, on or near which he remains, unless driven oft' by stronger bulls, until 

 August, never leaving for a single instant, night or day, and taking neither food nor 

 water. Before the arrival of the females (called cows) the bulls fight savagely among 

 themselves for positions on the rookeries, and many are severely wounded. All the 

 bulls are located by June 20. 



(5) The pregnant cows begin arriving early in June, and soon appear in large 

 schools or droves, immense numbers taking their places on the rookeries each day 

 between June 12 and the end of the month, varying with the weather. They assem- 

 ble about the old bulls in compact groups called harems. The harems are complete 

 early in July, at which time the breeding rookeries attain their maximum size and 

 compactness. 



(6) The cows give birth to their young soon after taking their places on the 

 harems. The period of gestation is between eleven and twelve months. 



(7) A single young is born in each instance. The young at birth are about equally 

 divided as to sex. 



(8) The act of nursing is performed on land; never in the water. It is necessary, 

 therefore, for the cows to remain at the islands until the young are weaned, which 

 is when they are 4 or 5 months old. 



(9) The fur seal is polygamous, and the male is at least three times as large as the 

 female. Each male serves 15 to 25 females. 



(10) Copulation takes pl.-tce on land. Most of the cows are served by the middle 

 of July, or soon after the birth of their pups. They then take to the water, and 

 come and go for food while nursing. 



(11) The pups huddle together in small groups called pods, at some distance from 

 the water. When 6 or 8 weeks old they move down to the water's edge and learn to 

 swim. The pups are not born at sea, and if soon after birth they are washed into 

 the sea they are drowned. 



(12) The cows are believed to take the bull first when two years old, and deliver 

 their first pup when 3 years old. 



(13) Bulls first take stands on the breeding rookeries when 6 or 7 years old. 

 Before this they are not powerful enough to fight the older bulls for positions on the 

 harems. 



(14) Cows when nursing, and the nonbreeding seals, regularly travel long dis- 

 tances to feed. They are commonly found 100 to 150 miles from the islands and 

 sometimes at greater distances. 



(15) The food of the fur seal consists of fish, squids, crustaceans, and probably 

 other forms of marine life also. 



(16) The great majority of cows, pups, and such of the breeding bulls as have not 

 already gone, leave the islands about the middle of November, the date varying 

 considerably with the season. 



(17) The nonbreediug male seals (holluschickie), together with a few old bulls, 

 remain until January, and in rare instances even until February. 



(18) The fur seal as a species is present at the Pribilof Islands eight or nine months 

 of the year, or from two-thirds to three-fourths of the time, and in mild winters 

 sometimes during the entire year. The breeding bulls arrive earliest and remain 

 continuously on the islands about four months; the breeding cows remain about 

 six months, and the nonbreeding male seals about eight or nine months, and some- 

 times during the entire year. 



SEALS KILLED ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



(19) The only seals killed for commercial purposes at the seal islands are non- 

 breeding males (under 5 or 6 years of age, called holluschickie). They come up on 

 the rookeries apart from the breeding seals, and large numbers are present by the 

 latter part of May. They constantly pass back and forth from the water to the 

 hauling grounds. These animals are driven by the natives (Aleuts) from the haul- 

 inggroundsto thekillin^ grounds, where they are divided up into little groups. Those 

 selected as of suitable size are killed with a club by a blow on the head ; the others 

 go into the water and soon reappear on the hauling grounds. In this way about 

 100,000 young males have been killed annually on the Pribilof Islands for twenty 

 years. 



(20) In addition to the commercial killing above described, a number of male pups 

 were formerly killed each year to furnish food for the natives, but the killing of 

 pup is now prohibited by the Government. 



PRESENT NUMBERS COMPARED WITH FORMER ABUNDANCE. 



The rookeries on both St. Paul and St. George islands bear unmistakable evidence 

 of having undergone great reduction in size during the past few years. This evi- 

 dence consists (1) in the universal testimony of all who saw them at an earlier period, 

 and (2) in the presence upon the back part of each rookery of a well-marked strip 



