264 



NATURAL HISTORY COLLEGTI<3NS IX ALASKA. 



Phoca vitulina Liuu. Harbor Seal (Esk. Nai-yiK'). 



Measurements of four sl'ulh of r. riluliixt. 



Biographical notes. — This species is a widely-spread and common one along the entire coast of 

 Alaska, except on the extreme northern portion, where it is comparatively rare. It is not abnndaut 

 abont Point Barrow, but from the vicinity of Cape Lisburne south to Bering Straits- it is very 

 common. lu Eschscholtz Bay, at the head of Kotzebuo Sound, we found them common in the 

 summer of 1881, and tliey were also numerous along the Arctic coast of Siberia from the straits 

 to North Cape. South of the straits in Bering Sea this is a common species everywhere along both 

 the American and Siberian coasts and aloug the Aleutian Island.s as well as the Fur Seal group 

 and the other islands of this sea. They are also common along the coast of the Pacific from tlie 

 Aleutian Islands, east and soutb, to the southern point of the Territory. 



As a rule they are found singly, and are shot upon the ice or are shot or speared in the water. 

 After the last of May they are rarely shot in the water, as at that season their coat of blubber is 

 very thin, and they sink at once. 



Rocky islands, like those of the Aleutian chain and the Fur Seal group, are favored by these 

 animals, but in the former islands they have been driven away from many places by persistent 

 hunting. They are less disturbed on the Fur Seal Islands, and are more common there than in 

 any other locality known to me. There, according to Elliott, they gather into groups of thirty 

 individuals, or thereabouts, on the shore, keeping close to the water-line, ready to plunge in at 

 the first alarm. They are resident there, and bring forth their young on the outlying rocks in 

 spring. North of these islands the young are born upon the ice during April and May. 



The Eskimo obtain many of the young at this season, and when only a few days old they are 

 odd-looking little beasts. They are covei'ed with a thick coat of slightly curly or "crinkled" wliite 

 hair an inch or so long. This hair is silky, and makes very warm, handsome mittens. 



Tlie adults make round holes through thin places in the ice, working from below, or come out 

 through the tide cracks and remain basking in the sun on the edge of the openings a largo portion 

 of the time at this season. 



Before the young are born the parents are shy and watchful when hauled out on the ice, and after 

 the young appear they become doubly wary. At this time the foxes and ravens wander about on 

 the ice and destroy many of the young before they learn to take care of themselves. When a pup 



