68 



THE FUR SEALS OF THE PR]BILOF ISLANDS. 



The following shows the results of the examination of the stomachs of 273 seals 

 taken in Bering Sea during the mouths of August and September, and indicates the 

 number of seals which had eaten a given species : 

 Pollock 165 I Cod 1 



S<l«id 163 Wolf fish 1 



Sealfish 84 Octopus 1 



^^^''aon 18 Unknown .....".'". 2 



Lamprey 6 



Cottoid 5 Total 446 



The following is the total amount of food knowu to have been eaten by 100 seals 

 during the months of August and September in Bering Sea: 



Small seal fish rec 



Squid g.,^ 



Po"ock .'[.'.[[][..[' .[.][][ 251 



Salmon ^„ 



Sundry "" ^^ 



'^"*='' 1,163 



The various combinations of species made by tlie same 100 seals are shown as 

 follows, which may be called the seals' bill of fare: ' 



Pollockonly 41 Pollock, squid, and seal fish n 



Squid only 2 Pollock, squid, and lamprey 4 



Salmon only 1 Pollock, squid, and salmon 1 



Seal lish only 1 Pollock, salmon, and seal fish 1 



Pollock and squid 22 | Pollock, squid, and octoj.us 1 



Pollock and .salmon 3 Squid and seal fish 6 



Pollock and seal fish 3 



Pollock and cod 1 



Pollock and wolf fish 1 



S(iuid, seal fish, and salmon 1 



Total ..100 



The following objects, certainly not taken for food, have been found in the 

 stomachs of seals, young and old : 



Ascidians. 



Hermit crah, EupayuruH hrandti 



Idotea ochotensis. 



Anonijx nugax. 

 Dead shells of lined num. 

 Dead barnacles, in fragments. 



Dead g.-istropods, in fragments. 



Opeicula of lAlorina. 

 Bones of ])iip seal. 

 Pebbles of lava. 

 Fragments of kelp. 

 Buckshot, a single example. 



It is evident that these things are not swallowed haphazard, but are selected 

 with considerable care from among the articles strewn along the .shore, and that a 

 preference is exhibited for rounded objects. This is shown by the fact that, as a rule, 

 only articles of one kind are found in one stomach, although seals do not discriminate 

 between fragments of barnacles and fragments of gastropods. Moreover, pebbles of 

 serpentine and chalcedony are now and then found on tlie hauling grounds under 

 conditions indicating that they were brought there by seals, while the pup seen 

 gathering pebbles on Lukanin did so with great care, by no means taking the first 

 that came to hand. The most striking example of tliis discrimiuativc selection is, 

 perhaps, shown by the pup which had swallowed a buckshot, while the cliance of 

 finding such a thing must be, at a gasss, about one in a million. 



' Probably taken with the dead shells of Buccinnm. 



