FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



25 



This study of the breedings seals was made from the summit of a h)w 

 bluft" which rose perpendicularly back of and overhung these seals as 

 depicted, and several thousand more on either side right and left, and 

 beyoud them down to the sea. The portions of the bodies of those seals 

 which lay inside of the lines of thi^ square, are not indicated; they 

 belong to the adjoining harems. 



ORIGINAL FIELD DIAGRAM. 



Diasrram of a section of " Nah SpeeV breeding grounil, showing the relative area and numbers of 

 fur seals thereon as they appear massed uniformly all over the entire breeding area of the Pribilov 

 Islands between July 10 and 20, at the height of the breeding or rutting season. 



Scale one-half inch to the foot, showing exartly 100 square feet of superficial area, on which 18 breed- 

 ing females (primipares, C, multipaies, D) ; 4 virgin females (nubiles, B) ; 24 newly born pups (E), and 

 lold bull or sea catch (A), laid under my eye July 12, 1874, showing the presence of 47 seals, big and 

 little on this area, not at all uncomfortably crowded. The number of pups to the superficial area of the 

 breeding ground, between July 10 and 20, is the surest guide to a correct calculation of the number of 

 mothers, since it is seldom that more than one-half, generally only one- third, of the mothers are present 

 at any one time. Six mothers are apparently absent in the above diagram ; but they really never are 

 all on this ground at any one time; more here to day than usual. 



