Ill -THE BREEDING HABITS OF THE PRIBILOF FUR SEAL. 



By Frkdekic A. Lucas. 



The more evident features in the breeding of the seals have been so often described 

 that, save for the sake of completeness, it might seem unnecessary to repeat them 

 here. The truth, however, has of late years been so overlaid and interwoven with 

 errors and falsehoods that it is practically impossible for one who has not made a 

 special study of the subject to separate the one from the other. So far back as 1839 

 Bishoj) Veniaminof published a very good description of the habits of the seals on 

 their breeding grounds, and that account, after the elimiuatiou of one or two very 

 excusable errors, is as true to-day as when it was written. In 1882 Elliott well 

 described the breeding habits of the seals, but about the same time the publication ot 

 Allen's work on North American Pinnipeds gave wide circulation to the many errors 

 contained in the account of Captain Bryant. 



Shortly after the ice has left the islands, late in April or early in May, the first 

 bulls make their appearance, and after loitering about the rookeries haul out and take 

 their stations for the season. The bulk of the males, however, do not put in an appear- 

 ance until later, but by the 1st of June the majority have taken positions on the 

 breeding grounds, although their numbers gradually increase for some time longer 

 through the entry of bulls which force their way in and establish harems. The bulls 

 appear to take up the places occupied the previous year, for in many cases bulls were 

 seen in 1897 in localities where they had been noted in 1896, though there are, of 

 course, many exceptions to this rule. There is much less fighting at this time than 

 we had been led to expect, and the males i^ass much of their time in sleeping while 

 awaiting the arrival of the cows. These begin to straggle in early in June, and 

 although the majority of cows have come on land and brought forth their young by 

 the 10th of July, yet they continue to arrive up to the middle of August, or even 

 later, a newly born pup having been seen on August 27, 1896. ^ 



1 The exact dates on which these various occurrences took place in 1896 are as follows : 



First bnll arrived Apr. 13 



First tillable seals arrived .■ May 11 



First cow seen on North rookery, St. George June 8 



First cows, five, seen on reef June 12 



First piips seen on reef June 14 



Newly born pup on North rookery, St. George Aug. 16 



Last newly born pnp seen on St. Paul Aug. 27 



Apparently gravid cow seen on Staraya Artel Aug. 17 



Last copulation, between young bull and 2-year-old cow, Tolstoi Aug. 27 



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