26 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA. 



The following statements of fact as to this matter of the nnmUeis of the breeding 

 seals, as mtroductorj', are ])ertineut: ' 



First. No fur seals except the females (unbiles, primij)ares, and multipares) and 

 their yonng, and the full-grown males, are found upon the breeding grounds during 

 the rutting season; emphatically none at the height of this season in July every yt-ar. 



Second, The ]>roi)ortion of femules to males in 1872-1874 was an average of 15 bear- 

 ing females, and then- 15 yonng, newly born; and of nubiles or virgin females (or 

 those coming into heat for the tirst time), an indefinite number, because they leave 

 no evidence of their being on the ground by pup])ing. I believe that four or five of 

 these young females to each male in 1S72-1874 was a fair average. 



If tiie reader will bear these two leading statements steadily in mind, as he follows 

 my ex])lauation below, he will not get my argument mixed up with the size and 

 weight of the bachelor seals, or iionbreediug males that never came upon these rook- 

 eries in 1872-1874, during the breeding season aforesaid. 



Now for the physical fur seal data: 



Typical examples of fur seals. 



A nubile female 



Au old female 



A newly born (two weeks old) 

 Full grown bull or male , 



Average 

 length. 



Inches* 

 45 



48 

 14 

 75 



Weight. 



Pouniig. 

 58 to 60 

 75 to 100 

 10 to U 



300 to 400 



"^ From tip of nose to root of tail; tail very short, never more than 2 to 4 inches in length. 



These (igures are from a large series of measurements which I made on the killing 

 grounds of the Pribilov Islands in 1872-1874, inclusive, and they can not be impeached. 



Therefore, the reader will observe that a female seal is not (juite 4 feet in length: 

 her greatest diameter is at her shoulders (where her girth is from 28 to 32 inches), 

 from 10 to 12 inches, tlie body then tapering rapidly from thence to both ends, ante- 

 rior and jiosterior. 



That a l)uppy seal from one to three weeks old (and wben my estimates were made) 

 is a scant foot in length, with its greater body diameter not more than 5 inches — 

 really not more than a full 4 inches in most cases. 



That a full-grown 1)ull fur seal is between 6 and 7 feet in length, with an average 

 of 6A feet, for the entire rookery ; that its greatest body diameter, throngh its shoul- 

 ders and under its " wig," is an average of 2i feet, tapering rapidly from here to the 

 tip of nose and root of tail. 



These statements of fact being understood, now I ask the reader to note the following : 



No fur seal, young or old, when resting on the breeding grounds stretches itself 

 out at full length (Ui the rocks or earth unless injured in the lumbar regions, or 

 deathly sick: and, the number you can see in this condition, you can count on your 

 fingers at the end of every day's close observation of hundreds of thousands. 



The female fur seals and their young take three typical positions when hauled out 

 on the breeding grounds, as shown in tigs. 1,2, and 3; while the pujjs add a fourth 

 position assii.med l)y curling themselves u]) so as to form a round ball, as in fig. 4; 

 and the adult males take relatively the same positions of the females above indicated ; 

 but, owing to the great fatigue that ensues from lighting among themselves and serv- 

 ing the females, they s])rawl out at intervals in almost every conceivable form excei)t 

 that of stretching themselves out at full length. All fur seals when at rest invari- 

 ably throw their hind<iuarters up under their loins, just as a dog or cat does; in the 

 case of the hair seals, it is the reverse. Now, understanding these points, the reader 

 will please take a survey of the following diagrams, which show a female seal out- 

 lined as she rests on 4 8(]uare feet of ground and her pup as it lies by her.- 



The following diagram shows the superficial area covered by a "bull " as it rests 

 so as to cover the greatest space in any one posture that it naturally .assumes. 



' These detailed and expanded statements as to my method of calculating the num- 

 bers of fur seals in 1872-1874 were published in Forest and Stream, November IH, 

 1891. New York, pp. 347, 348. They were rendered necessary to meet the baseless 

 criticism of a self constituted authority who pretended to know a great deal aliout 

 the subject before the Biological Society of Washington, October 17, 1891, but who, 

 in fact, knew nothing. — [Author, .January 30, 1895, Washington, D. C] 



•^In my Ceiieus JiJonof/raph of the Seal' Islands (Tenth Census, U. S. A., 1881), on 

 page .50, is an error in the tyjies, where I am made to say that a female fur seal 

 requires " an area a little less than 2 square feet." This is self-evident nonsense not 

 due to me, because on page 77 of my official leyiort on this subject in 1874 {Condition 

 of affairs in Alaska, Washington, 1875), the same sentence is correctly printed as a 

 space "a little less than 2 feet square." Tiie iirmter had my printed pages of 1875 

 to copy in the Census Monograi)h, and I did not iletect the error at the time of issue, 

 and really did not observe it until 1891. 



