50 



B. THE STARVED PUPS. 



About tlie juiddle of August auother aud nioro important cause of mortality sets 

 in. This is tlie starvation of i)ups througli the loss of their mothers at sea. 



PEKIOD OF STARVATION. 



The younger pups die in two weeks or somewhat less; the older ones in three or 

 four weeks. 



One of the largest and oldest pups on 8t. Paul Island, one which had already 

 acquired its gray coat of winter, was found starved to death on l\'eef h'ookery Sep- 

 tember 8 and was preserved in alcohol, 'i'he first starved jjiip detinitely known to 

 be the victim of i)elagic sealing was noticed on Kitovi Rookery August 15. The 

 last starving ])Up seen was killed for examination and measurement on the same 

 rookery October 18. There were, however, very few starving pups to be seen on the 

 rookeries after October 7, and only an occasional one after the 15th. ( *n October 11 a 

 thorough examination of the beach line of Reef Rookery on St. Paul, wliere 300 starv- 

 ing puf)S were counted on Sei)tember 2H, failed to show any remaining. Only 19 starv- 

 ing pups were counted on the rookeries of >St. (Jeorge Island, ( >ctober b. 



After the i)U])s have learned to swim well they s))end most of their time in the 

 water, often going long distances from the rookeries where they belong and not 

 returning for days at a time. In the water they sleep, play with one another, dive 

 like ducks, and toss about pie<'es of seaweed, sticks, and other objects that come within 

 their reach. From tliese actions it has been conteude<l that the pups were capable of 

 finding in September and ( )ctober other food than milk, and were therefore not likely 

 to starve even if tli<'y did lose their niotliers. Witli a view to settling the ques- 

 tion, upward of a score of pu])8 were killed on the rookeries of St. Paul during these 

 months Tinder circumstances most tavorable to throwing light on the matter. (See 

 record on page 33.) 



CONTENTS OF Pl'PS' STOMACHS. 



For the most part pups taken at random on The rookeries were found with em])ty 

 stomachs. The few containing milk were either very full or nearly empty. Pups 

 killed in the water or immediately after coming ashore were Ibund without exception 

 to be fiill of milk. All stomachs contained pebbles. In two stomachs, one full of 

 milk, the other empty— that of a starving pup — small crustaceans were found. In 

 the latter stomach was also a (inantity of dry seaweed. The stomach of a starving 

 pup scarcely able to walk contained a soft-she]le<l crab. In a stomach otherwise 

 em])ty was a small tunicate. Several stomachs had bits of shells; many bad shreds 

 of seaweed. The foreign objects were found in stomachs well tilled with milk as 

 well as in empty ones. There was nothing in the examination to justify the suppo- 

 sition that the objects were swallowed with a view to deriving nourishment from 

 them. They were doubtless jiicked up b\ accident or in obedience to the instinct 

 which will ultimately lead them to catch fish. Interesting in this connection and 

 ajjparently indicating that curiosity, and not desire for food, leads the ]»ups to swal- 

 low these things is the fact that from the stomachs of the .59 bachelors killed for 

 food on October 15 an identical collection of objects was taken. It could not be 

 su])posed that they fed on them. 



FXCRE.MENT OF PUPS. 



While considering the (piestion of the probability of the y)ups feeding, the sand 

 beaches of Zolotoi, English Bay, and I^ukanin were found to be strewn with small 

 cylindrical pieces of excrement evidently voided by the pups which were swinnning 

 by hundreds just oil' the shore. An examination of tin; rectum and intestines of 

 pups killed in the water showed the presence of excrement of the same color and 

 consistency as that seen on the shore. The presence of this excrement and the fact 

 that only pups with full stomachs were found in the water, lead to the conclusion 

 that the pups, like the older seals, go into the water to digest their food, the actions 

 commonly mistaken for feeding being simply the outgrowth of their playful and 

 inquisitive dispositions. 



EVERY ORPHAN PUP STARVES. 



The results of these examinations show that until as late as the 22d of October, 

 or fully a month after the close of pelagic sealing, tht^ fur-seal pups are wholly 

 dependent upon their mother's milk for nourishment. It is probable that the change 

 to a tish diet does not occur until after mother and puj) leave the island in No\'ember. 

 It may therefore be stated as a fact beyond (juestiou that every pup whose mother 

 is killed at sea by the pelagic sealers must starve to death. To this there can be no 

 exception. 



