174 TESTIMONY 



A COW never suckles any but her owu pup. Wlien a strange pup ap- 

 proaches a cow she Avill drive it away from her: and 

 hetownpup':^''°"^-^ out of thousauds of pups huddlcd together she will 

 single her own. It is my opinion that if a mother is 

 killed her offspring dies of starvation. In performing my oflicial duty 

 Dead pups. ^ ftxMjuently visited the breeding rookeries, and during 



my entire stay on the island 1 never saw moie than 400 

 dead imps on all the rookeries. A new-born pup seal is unable to swim 

 and is afraid of the water. I have seen a cow seal push 

 swi"r *'"''°"'^ *" lier pnp from a rock iuto the water where it floundered 

 about in a helpless manner until the mother would go 

 in, take it in her mouth as a cat cai ries kittens, and bring it again ashore, 

 only to again push it oft' the rock into the water. My observation has 

 ,, , .,.,,. been that apui) is generally about two months old before 



relacic birth unpos- -i • t, ■ ■ ■ j.i ^ i • i_i 



Bible. it can swim. It is my opinion that a pup born in the 



water would drown in a very few miiintes. 



A bull never leaves the breeding rookery during the entire breeding 



season, which is a period of from two to three months. Soon after a cow 



Fen.aies feeding. briugs fortli licr youug shc gocs iuto the water to get 



food. I know fnmi actual observation that they go at 



least 20 miles from the islands, but how much farther I am unable to 



state. 



Louis Kimmel. 



Subscribed and sworn to before me this 25th day of March, 1892. 

 [l. S.J Sevellon A. Brown, 



Notary Fuhlic in and for the District of Columbia, If. S. A. 



Deposition of Thomas F. By an, assistant Treasury agent on St. Georye 



Island. 



HABITS, management, PELAGIC SEALING. 



District of Columbia, 



(Jity of Washington, ss: 

 Thomas F. Ryan, being duly sworn, deposes and says: lam a resident 

 Ex)erience ^^ Iiidiaiiapolis, Indiana, and aiu 51 years old. During 



xpenence. ^^^ years 1885 and 1880 1 was Assistant Treasury 



Agent, residing on St. George Island, one of the Pribilof Islands. 

 1 arrived there about the 1st of May, 1885, and remained there un- 

 til August 9, 1880. In order to perform my duty as agent I made a 

 careful study of seal life on the island, and examined 

 as far as I Avas able into the habits of the fur seal. 

 The bulls generally begin to arrive on the island during the liist 

 part of the moiitli of May. The cows begin to apjjcar about June 

 1, and the youug males, or bachelor seals, about the same time. 

 The seals which are "driven" and killed are bachelors between 

 the age of 2 years and 5 years. No females are al- 

 Noieiiiaks killed on lowcd to bc drivcu or killed,, The breeding rookeries 

 ^•'^'""'^'^- are never disturbed in any Avay. The rule that '-the 



Fiieanns forbidden, iii^^e of flrearuis is foibiddeii between May 1 aiul De- 

 cember 1, except as permitted by the Government ofli- 

 cer," was enforced while I Avas on the island. No dogs are ever allowed 

 ui)on the i.slands. The cow gives birth to her jmp soon 

 Until <d pups. after arriving on the breeding rookeries, and I think a 



