RELATING TO PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 5 



ing this period tLe pup is in no sense an amphibian, being as helpless 

 in the water as a young- chicken; it can not swim, and Avhen thrown in 

 the water would inevitably drown if not rescued by its 

 mother or by man. Therefore, if a pup was born in posl^bi^'" ^"'^^ '"' 

 the water it would certainly iierish. I have seen cases 

 where a mother, being taken by the pains of parturition, sought the 

 nearest beach rather than a rookery, not having time to reach the 

 latter before the birth of her pup. If pups could be born in the water 

 such cases as the last stated would not occur. The pup is nursed by 

 its mother from its birth so long as it remains on the islands, the 

 mother leaving the islands at different intervals of time after the pup 

 is three or four days old. 1 have seen pups, which I had i)reviously 

 marked by a ribbon, left for three or four days consecutively, the 

 mothevs going into the water to feed or bathe. A mother seal will in- 

 stantly recognize her offspring from a large grouj) of pups on the 

 rookery, distinguishing it by its cry and by smell; but I do not think 

 a pup can tell its own mother, as it will nose about any cow which 

 comes near it. A female seal does not suckle any pup save her own, 

 and will drive away any other pups which apjiroach her. 



I am positive that if a mother seal was killed her pup must inevita- 

 bly perish by starvation. As evidence of this fact I will state that I 

 have taken stray, motherless pups found on the sand beaches and 

 placed them upon the breeding rookeries beside milking females and 

 in all instances tliese pups have finally died of starvation. When 

 about 4 weeks old the i^ups get together in grouj^s or j)ods and ap- 

 proach nearer and nearer to the shore; after a week or so they are 

 down near the surf but run back terrified whene\?er a wave comes in. 

 They then begin to get acquainted with the sea and little by little 

 overcome their terror and learn to use their flippers. I have seen a 

 female sometimes pick her pup up by the back of the neck and carry 

 it out into the water and let go of the little animal, catching it before 

 it drowned and holding it above the waves; this she would repeat time 

 and again until the little fellow got over his terror and began to use 

 his flippers. By the 1st of September nearly all the pups have learned 

 to swim, and until the time of their departure from the islands spend 

 their time both on land and in the water, but by far the greater por- 

 tion of this period is spent on land. The time they leave the islands 

 is generally the middle of November, but the weather is the true mark 

 of su(;h de])arture, they seeming to be unwilling to stay after the first 

 snow or vsleet comes. On dei)arting from their island home they pro- 

 ceed southward through the Aleutian passes, the majority going 

 through or to the eastward of the pass of longitude 172°. The cause 

 of their departure is doubtless the approach of cold 

 weather and the lack of sufficient food. Migration, cause of. 



Providing the conditions were the same on the islands the year round 

 as they are in the summer, and providing the food supply was suffi- 

 cient in the immediate vicinity of the islands, I think the seals wordd 

 remain on or about the islands during the entire year. The seals evi- 

 dently consider these islands their home and only leave them by rea- 

 son of hick of food and inclement weather. Some seals remain about 

 the ishinds until the first of January, and the winters of 1874 and 1875 

 being exceptionally mild, seals remained on or in the vicinity of the 

 islands during the whole year. 



From my inquiries and observations I am convinced the seals, after 

 going through the Aleutian passes, seek the vast schools of fishes 



