62 TESTIMONY 



born ill the water it could not i>ossibly live and T have never heard of 

 such a case. .V further fad in this couucctiou is that tlieteniaU\s never 

 come to the islands accompanied by a pup. After birth a ])up at once 

 bejiins to suckle its mother, who leaves its oil'sprini;' only to go into the 

 water for food, which 1 believe from my observation consists nnunly of 



fish, squids, and crustaceans. In her search for food the 

 nuHr""^^*"^'"'^'"*^""'^ lemaU\ in my opinion, .goes 40 miles or even iiirther ironi 



the islands. The i)up does not ap])ear to recoi;'ni/,e its 

 mother, attemptiiii;' to (haw milk from any cow itcomcs in contact witli; 

 but a mother will at once iei'ogui/-e lier own pu[»and will aUow no other 

 to nurse her. This i know from often observing- a cow light otf other 



pups, wh(> ap])roached her, and search out her own pu]) 

 Cow suckles only ]ior f^.^,,, auiong them, which 1 think she recognizes by its 



own pup. 11 I '1 .^ .7 



snu'll and its (^ry. 



When the pups are about six or eight weeks old they begin to herd 



together in groups called ''•pods;" these by degrees 



icS/toS..''"'^ ^^'*"»'l^ *l<>^vn toward the shore and after several trials 



and failures at last find the use of their flippers and 



learn to swim; from this time, the 1st of August or thereabouts, the 



pup goes into the water at interxals, but remains most of the time on 



the rookeries until about November, the time which the i)up spends in 



,,. ,. the water depending n great deal on the weather. 



ioward the hist or middle ot November the i)ups leave 



the islands; they instinctively turn southward toward the Aleutian 



Islands. 



The time of their departure depends a good (b'al on the state of the 

 weather; if the winter is open, they may be found much later upon the 

 islands and if particularly warm seals may be found during^ the whole 

 winter upon and about the islands. Probably, too, they are induced to 

 lea\(' the islands in j)ursuit of food. In niyo])inion if the islands were 

 a little waruier in winter and not surrounded by ice, the seals would 

 remain there the year round, as they evidently consider the Pribilof 

 Group their home. 



From the islands tlu^ ])up with his fellows goes southward, passin,g 



through the i)asses between the Aleutian Islands, and holds its course 



still south till lost sight of in the ocean. From this time until the herd 



re appears oti' the ( •alitbrnian coast their course is a matter of belief; but 



from information of sea captains of coasting vessels who have sailed 



duriug-the winter, seals during December and the first part of January 



are found heading southeastwardly toward the Califor- 



fo^nTcmrr""^^"^'' "iii'i ^'«>ast. In January and Fei)rr.ary they begin to 



appear along- that coast; then turning- northward they 



proceed along the coast, reaching Vancouver Island about :March, the 



Southern Alaska coast in Ainil and May, and in -June the herd reenters 



Bering Sea and [>roceeds again to their island home. It is impossible 



to state the course or exact time of migration with complete accuracy, 



but this course here designated I believe to be ai)i)roximately correct. 



The pups which left the island the yeai- betore have now become 



Yoariings. " yearliiigs," the males and females herding together 



indiscriminately and not coming on shore until some 



time in August or 8ei)teinber; they also leave the islands a little earlier 



than the lirst year and make the same course of migration as before. 



Two year-olds ^^" t^'^^'^i" secoud returii to the island as "tw^o-year- 



olds " the sexes separate, the females g^oing- on the 



breeding rookeries where they are fertili/ed by the bulls, and tlie males 



Bachelor liauliug up witli tlic uonbreediug iiialcs, called "• bach- 



^ * "'^' elors," ou the so-called " hauling grounds." The " two- 



