100 TESTIMONY 



eanse*^*^ aeaiing the dered wliy tliis was SO, aiicl no one could tell why until 



we learned that liunters in schooners were shooting 



Destruction of and destroying them in the sea. Then we knew what 



females. the troublc Avas, for we knew the seals they killed and 



destroyed must be cows, for most all the males remain 



thSands''.''"''''" "'^ on or near the islands until they go away in the fall 



or fore part of the winter. We also noticed dead 



pups on the rookeries, that had been starved to 



ea pups. death. These dead, pups have increased fiom year 



to year since 1887, and in 1891 the rookeries wc^re covered with 



dead pups. In my sixty-seven years, residence on the Island I never 



„ . , before saw anything like it. None of our people have 



ever known oi any sickness among the pups or seals 



and have never seen any dead pups on the rookeries except a few 



killed by the old bulls when fighting or by di'owning when the surf 



washed them oif. If they had not killed the seals in 



Decrease of three- the sca there would ho. as many on the rookeries as 



quai ers. there was ten years ago. There was not more than 



one-fourth as many seals in 1891 as there was in 1880. 



The fur-seal goes away from the island in the fall or winter and he 



returns in May or June, and I believe he will haul up 



tur^of's*^il. ^°^ ^^' in the same place each year, for I particularly noticed 



i^c'el'^™ *" ^^^^ some that I could tell that hauled up in the same place 



^^'^^^- for a number of years; and when we make drives, 



those we do not kill, but let go into the water, are all back where we 



took them from in a few hours. The pups are born be- 



Birth of pups. ^^gg^ ^^^ middle of June and the middle of July, and 



^^Swim when 6 weeks can uot swiui uutil they are (5 or 7 weeks old ; and if 



born in the water they would die. I have seen tlie 



surf wash some of the young pups into the sea, and they drowned in a 



very short time. In four or five days after it is born, the mother seal 



leaves her jjup and goes away in the sea to feed, and 



in water^ '^^^ ^'""^ ^heu the pup is 2 or 3 wrecks old the mother often 



stays away for five or six days at a time. The mother 



seals know their own pups by- smelling them, and no seal will allow 



any but her own pup to suck her. When the pups 



thrirownVupr""^^ grow to bc 6 or 8 weeks old they form in "pods" and 



work down to the shore, aud they try the water at the 



edge until they learn to swim. They will remain on the Island until 



November, and, if not too cold, will stay till December. 



epar ure o pups, j j^ave secu them swimming around the island late in 



January. All the seals, when they leave the Island, 



i^iigration. ^^ ^^. g^^^j^^ ^^^ j think they would stay around here 



all winter if the weather was not so cold. 



When they come back to the Islands they come from the south, and 



I think they come Ixom the Nortl^ Pacific Ocean, over 



track."™ "^ ^^^ the same track that they went. Tne females go upon the 



Go on rookeries rookcrics as soou as they arrive here, but the yearlings 



do not come on land till the last of July, and yearling 



Habits of young malcs aud fcmalcs herd together. I think tliey stay 



^'^'^^^' in the water most of the time the first year, but after 



that they come reguhirly to the hauling grounds and rookeries, but do 



not come as early in the season as they do after they are 2 years old. 



Male seals from 2 to G years old do not go on the breeding rookeries, but 



haul out by themselves. The female seal gives birth to 



one pup everj yTa^."* ^^^ ouc pup cvcry year, and she has her first pup when 



she is 3 years old. The male seal estabhshes himself on 



