DEATHS FROM STARVATION. 83 



in 1896, and it is to be uoted that this is uot far from the number indicated by the 

 percentage of starved puj)s among those examined in 1896 and 1897. The percentage 

 of deaths from starvation was a little higher in 1897 than in 1896, and this is precisely 

 what would happen if we are correct in supposing that the starvation is principally, 

 or at least largely, due to the rough treatment of cows by the bulls, and their subse- 

 quent death at sea. 



Between July 25 and August 15 the proportion of starved pups to those dead from 

 other causes is, among those examined, as 5 to 8; between August 15 and September 

 5 it is as 2 to 1, owing to the influence of pelagic sealing. In 1896 no young seals were 

 found after August 22 which had died from any cause save starvation; in 1897 but 2 

 were found dead of Uncinaria after September 1, while of 23 young containing Unci- 

 naria, examined after August 25, 8 had died from starvation following an attack of 

 the parasite. 



It will do no harm to repeat that there is no diflflculty in distinguishing between 

 pups which have died from Uncinaria only and those in which an attack of Uncinaria, 

 not necessarily fatal in itself, has been followed by starvation. As the seal is weak- 

 ened by the drain upon its blood produced by the parasite, it naturally follows that 

 an animal thus afflicted will succumb to starvation in a much shorter time than if in 

 a perfectly normal condition. It thus happens that those young seals which have 

 died from the combined effects of Uncinaria and starvation retain more or less fat, 

 while those that have perished from starvation alone are emaciated to the last degree. 



Therefore, although we failed to recognize the ravages of Uncinaria in 1896, yet 

 in no single instance did we consider as starved a single pup that had died from 

 Uncinaria, and Professor Thompson's surmise to that effect is without any foundation.^ 



As to the exact causes of this starvation of the young we are somewhat in the 

 dark, although we get some hints in the observations of Mr. Clark in 1897, which 

 show that in some cases the seals are stolen from their original harems, and thus 

 separated from their young, who in many instances are unable or fail to follow their 

 mothers. Also, a number of females very likely perish at sea from the rough handling 

 they have received on shore, while others probably stay away so long feeding and 

 sleeping that the young perish of hunger before they return. This supposition 

 derives support from the fact that on two occasions lean and apparently famishing 

 pups were seen to respond eagerly to the calls of cows just in from the sea, showing 

 from the avidity with which they nursed that they were in a starving condition. 



A few pups are bound to starve from the deaths of their mothers, which are killed 

 by rough treatment on the rookery grounds, but this number is comparatively insig- 

 nificant and, moreover, most of the cows are killed too early in the season for their pups 

 to be dissectible by August 10, and after all known sources of starvation have been 

 considered we are bound to say that deaths from this cause before August 1 are more 

 numerous than, with our present information, we can definitely account for. How- 

 ever, let the loss from starvation under natural conditions be what it may, this loss is 

 comparatively small, while the fact remains that every pup whose mother is killed at 

 sea inevitably starves to death. 



Deaths from drowning are not so numerous as might be expected from the habits 

 of young seals and from what has been written of the "deadly surf nip," but after 

 visiting the rookeries during and after several gales it becomes evident that, under 



' Thompson, Report on His Mission to Bering Sea in 1897, p. 8. 



