RELATING TO PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 15 



When the season is ov^er the bulls, uow reduced iu weight, find their 

 way to the sea for rei uperation. 



My observation has beeu that the female seal, prompted by the mater- 

 ual instinct, lands, chooses by in^ei-evenae the rocky 

 shore, and is permitted a certain amount of freedom in 

 going her way until just the place most to her liking is found, but when 

 once parturition is completed she then, being of necessity tied to the 

 spot, becomes subject to the control of the nnile, which control is exer- 

 cised with rigor. Should the point of access to a rookery be through 

 a break in the cliff tliat offers only a steep incline the chances are the 

 bulls located near will be favored by large harems. 



From the frequency with which I saw females select a flat stone over 

 the edgeof which the posterior portion of the body could hang previ- 

 ous to delivery, suggests an explanation of why the rocky margins are 

 preferred to the sandy shores. It is not possible to determine how 

 soon after the arrival of the mother the puj) is born, for she may have 

 i)een in the water adjacent to the island several days before finding it 

 necessary to come ashore. But tlie accouchement follows quickly upon 

 the landing. Very soon thereafter the females receive the males, and 

 there is no doubt but that the master of the harem has knowledge of 

 the female's condition as regards pregnancy, for while some of his con- 

 sorts, the latest arrivals, are jealously guarded, others are permitted 

 greater freedom. 



For the first few days, and possibly for a week or even ten days, the 

 female is able to nourish her young or oflspring, but 

 she is soon compelled to seek the sea for food, that her y^f^g.' '''""''" "^ "^ 

 voracious young feeder may be properly nourished, and 

 this seems to be permitted on the part of the male, even though under 

 protestation. The whole physical economy of the seal seems to be ar- 

 ranged for alternate feasting and fasting, and it is probable thatiu the 

 early days of its life the young seal might be amply nourished by such 

 milk as its mother might be able to furnish without herself resorting to 

 the sea for food. 



The female gives birth to but a single pup. The labor is of short 

 duration, and seems not to produce great pain. In the 

 first weeks of its life the pup does not seem to recognize a u'me""^'"^' ^'"" "^ 

 its mother, but the latter will recognize and select 

 her offspring among hundreds. 



The young on being born have all the appearance of pups of a New- 

 foundland dog with flippers. On emerging from their ^^^^ 

 warm resting-place into the chill air they utter a plain- "^^''' 

 tive bleat not unlike that of a youiig lamb. The mother fondles them 

 Avith many demonstrations of affection, and they begin nursing soon 

 after birth. 



Were not the seals in their organs of reproduction, as well as in all 

 the incidents of procreation, essentially land animals, 

 the fact that the placenta remains attached to the auimai""""''' ^■'"'^ 

 pup by the umbilical cord for twenty-four hours or even 

 more afterbirth, would show the impossibility of aquatic Pelagic bntii im- 

 birth. I have seen pups dragging tlie caul over the i'"'^'"'^''*- 

 ground on the third day after birth. Even could the pup stand the 

 buftetiug of the waves it would not survive such an anclior. No pup 

 could be born in the water and live. Doubtless the habits of the sea- 

 otter have become confused with tliose of the fur seal. 



