180 TESTIMONY 



aiiiiiial. During tliis period it Las been my duty as a trusted eniployd 

 of the lessees to observe and report, eacli year, tlie condition of the 

 rookeries. My instructions were exiilicit and empbatic to never per- 

 mit, under any circumstances, any practices to obtain that would result 

 in injury to tlie berds. These iustructions liave been faithfully carried 

 out by myself and other employes of the lessees of the Islands, and 

 the laws and regulations governing- the iierpetuation of seal life have 

 been rigidly enforced by all the Government Agents iu charge of the 

 Islands. 



In my twenty-three years' experience as a whaler in Behring Sea and 



the Xortli Pacific, during which time I visited every 



"'^'^''' part of the coast surrounding these waters, and my 



subsecpient twenty-four years' experience on the seal islands in ]3erhing 



and Okhotsk seas, I have never known or beard of any 

 Aiasivan seal bieiMis piacc wlicrc the Alaskau fur seals breed except on the 

 i'am\s."" '' ' " " Pribiloff Group in Bering Sea. These islands are iso- 

 lated and seem to possess the necessary climatic con- 

 ditions to make them the favorite breeding grounds of the Alaskan fur 

 seals, and it is here they congregate during the summer months of each 



year to bring foith and rear their young. Leaving the 

 Migration. islauds late in the fall or iu early winter, on account of 



the inclemency of the weather they journey southward through the 

 passes of the Aleutian Archipelago to the coast of California, Oregon, 

 and Washington, and, gradually working their way back to Bering 

 Sea, they again come up on the rookeries soon after the ice disappears 

 from the shores of the islands,- and my observation leads me to believe 

 that they select, as near as possible, the places they occupied the year 



before. The young seals are born on the breeding 

 ^"^^' rookeries in June and July. The head constitutes the 



greater part of this animal at this time, and they are clumsy and awk- 

 ward in all their movements, and if swept into the water by accident 

 or otherwise would perish from inability to swim — a fact that I have 

 often observed, and one which is well known to all who have paid any 

 attention to the subject. Practically they remain in this helpless 

 condition, though taking on fat rapidly, until they are from 6 to 7 

 • o- 1 • "^^eks old, when they commence to go into the shal- 

 earmng o swim, j^^ water, and, after repeated trials, learn to swim; 

 but even then they spend most of their time on laud until they leave 

 the islands late in oSTovember. During the first few weeks after their 

 birth they are not amphibious, and land is a necessity to their exist- 

 M thiir f d- 'T ®^ce. The mother seals go out to sea to feed soon after 

 ee mg. giving birth to their young, and return at intervals of 

 from a few hours to several days to suckle and nourish their young. 



The mother seal readily distinguishes her own offspring from that of 

 others, nor will she permit the young of any other seal to suckle her. 

 I have noticed in the killing of young seals (pups) for food, iu Novem- 

 ber, that their stomachs were full of milk, although apparently the 

 mothers had not been on the islauds for several days previous. I have 

 observed that the male seals taken in the forepart of the season, or 

 within a few days after their arrival at the islands, are fat and their 

 stomachs contain quantities of undigested fish (mostly cod), while the 

 stomachs of those killed in the latter part of the season are empty; 

 and they diminish in Hesli until they leave the islands late in the season. 



I am of the opinion that while the female often goes 

 island^ ?oi*fo?d ''^'^^'^ ^^^^8" distances to feed w^hile giving nourishment to her 



young, the male seals of two years old and over seldom, 



