TAKEN IN THE STATE OF WASHINGTON. 367 



on an average abont 60 or 65 per cent of all fur-seals shot in tlie season. 

 With whites, their greatest losses occur during the waste of lifo. 

 earlier part of the season. More fur-seals are lost in Greater with fire- 

 proportion which are killed by means of a shotgun arms. 

 than with a rifle. Of the seals secured in a season Mostly females; 

 fully 70 per cent are females, and of these more than 60 principally pregnant 

 percent are pregnant and milking cows. The males ^^^^^ ^^^Sf^oy,^. 

 taken are about equally divided in numbers between yearlings and 

 bachelors from the ages of 2 to 5 years; bulls are seldom shot. It is 

 impossible to distinguish positively between females and males (other 

 than large bulls) in the water at sea, and no effort is made to do so. 

 Full-powered bulls are readily recognized by their great bulk and 

 darker fur. The killing of fur-seals is therefore abso- 

 lutely indiscriminate, as the object is to secure all the slaughter? '^'™'"'^*^ 

 skins possible, irrespective of sex, age, or condition. All 

 fur-seals sink rapidly after being killed, and females heavy with young 

 go down soonest; a great deal depends on the way a seal is shot, how- 

 ever. 



If the seal be shot with the head down, as in the act of diving, its 

 momentum sends it under for a moment or two, when Position when shot 

 it will quickly rise to the surface and float until the air "^' i nw ensio . 

 in its body escapes, which generally occupies anywhere from five to 

 ten minutes. A seal shot with its head up almost always sinks in- 

 stantly. Fur-seals shot when sleeping occasionally go down at once, 

 but the rule is for them to float for three or four minutes. They should 

 be api^roached from the leeward, and if shot in the back of the head 

 may almost invariably be recovered. I do not believe it possible for 

 fur-seals to breed or copulate in the water at sea, and 

 never saw nor heard of the action taking place on a or^n'^keipm^posliWe! 

 patch of floating kelp. I have never seen a young fur- 

 seal pup of the same season's birth in the water at sea nor on a patch 

 of floating kelp, and in fact never knew of their being born anywhere 

 save on a rookery. I have, however, cut open a gravid 

 cow and taken the young one from its mother's womb, ^rfe^™ ""^^ °° ™°''- 

 alive and crying. I do not believe it possible for a fur- 

 seal j)up to be successfully raised unless born and nursed on a rookery. 

 I have seen fur-seals resting on patches of floating kelp at sea, but do 

 not believe they ever haul up for breeding purposes 

 anywhere except on rookeries. I have never heard of, roSferies"^ "°^"^ ^^ 

 nor have I any knowldge of, any fur-seal rookeries in -o t. • 

 the ]S"orth Pacific, otherthan those on the seal islands rribiiorisiamiL"^ 

 of Bering Sea. While in Bering Sea we cruised 

 around the Pribilof Islands in all directions, often coming within view 

 of them, but never lauding or making any attempt to proportion of fe- 

 do so. The proportion of females taken to males was males taken in Bering 

 about 70 per cent, more than two-thirds of these being ^®*' 

 nursing cows, while the remainder were tivo-year-olds and yearlings. 



On first entering the sea an occasional pregnant cow would be taken, 

 but this was uncommon. Of the males taken in the Bering Sea the 

 numbers of yearlings and very young bachelors was about equal; no 

 bulls were ever taken. I observed that nursing cows range from 60 to 

 80 miles from the Pribilof Islands to feed, and were ^.^^^ 



always most numerous in a southerly and westerly di- ^^^ *^^ "^^ '"°" 

 rection from them. After leaving Bering Sea our course was direct to 

 Puget Sound, only scattering specimens of fur-seal life being observed 

 en route ; most of these were young males. I have not 

 personally noticed any decrease in the numbers of the ^^"^^^^' 



