86 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



miles, involving much delay and the possibility of injury from overheating. Under this 

 method no killing can be done on warm or dry days, since the seals can not travel far 

 unless rain or heavy dew is present. It sometimes happens that several days will 

 pass without weather conditions which permit driving . On many other occasions drives 

 have to be abandoned before the killing grounds are reached because of sun or lack of 

 moisture. 



The main difficulty opposing the location of killing grounds nearer the rookeries, 

 which would do away with much of the necessity of waiting for favorable weather con- 

 ditions, is the absence of roads. Although draft animals have been used on St. 

 Paul Island for many years, there is only one road — that connecting Northeast Point 

 with the village. Teams are sometimes driven to Zapadni, but the road is scarcely 

 passable and the journey involves so much discomfort and such flagrant misuse of the 

 animals and vehicles that it is seldom undertaken. Reef Rookery, from which most of 

 the seals killed during the last few years have been taken, though only a mile from the 

 village, is not reached by road nor by trail worthy of the name. The seals are there- 

 fore driven by indefinite routes to the killing ground close to the village and thence the 

 meat and skins are hauled by wagon to the storehouses. A road would allow the animals 

 to be killed nearer the hauUng ground, and the expenditure of a little more time and 

 energy would permit the transportation of the meat and skins the whole distance by 



wagon. 



KILLING. 



It is believed that the present method of killing is effective and as humane as is 

 possible and that no change is necessary or desirable. The seal selected to be killed is 

 stunned by a blow on the head from a heavy club and while unconscious is stabbed in 

 the heart and bled. The method is thus at least as humane as that followed in slaughter- 

 ing domestic animals for food. 



FEMALES AND OLD SEALS IN DRIVES. 



In making drives from the vicinity of the breeding rookeries it sometimes happens 

 that a few females are included. These are almost always detected and liberated, but 

 occasionally one is accidentally killed. This may happen from the inabiUty of the 

 clubber to judge of the sex of the animal when only the head is visible or by the animal's 

 receiving a blow intended for another individual. In spite of all care, an occasional 

 accident of this kind in killing thousands of seals is unavoidable. During June and 

 early July cows are seldom included in the drives, but after the last of July, when the 

 vigilance of the harem bulls has become relaxed, the bachelors encroach somewhat on 

 the breeding grounds, and if drives are made then a few cows are likely to be included. 

 About this time, however, the stagey season begins and so many of the skins become 

 worthless that killing is wasteful and should be stopped altogether. July 31 should 

 mark the close of the sealing season. 



During June and July in the season of 1 9 1 4 ten food drives were made on the Pribilof 

 Islands. The only cow which appeared in any of these drives was a virgin female acci- 

 dentally killed on St. George Island on July 25. After August i, however, a few cows 

 were noted in almost every drive, and though only three were killed (by accident) 

 several others succumbed to overheating and trampling. The cows, especially the 



