ABSTRACT OF VENIAMINOF's ACCOUNT. 



85 



following year.i He carefully distinguishes the various classes of seals— the silcatcM, 

 or old bulls; ihe polusiJcatchi, or young bulls; the holustiaM, or bachelors; the matlci, 

 or mother seals; the Icotiici, or pups, and the yearlings. The sikatchi in spring arrive 

 first on St. Paul Island, about April 20 (old style; May 2 new style), "even if the 

 island is still beset by ice,''^ and take up the same place as the previous year, being 

 extremely fat upon their arrival. They pass most of the time sleeping, before the 

 arrival of the females, when the sikatchi tries to get hold of as many as possible for 

 his harem, in which he succeeds not without bloody contests with other males. "Prom 

 1 to 150 females have been observed with one sikatch, the number depending simply 

 upon his bravery. He is the unrestricted lord, the guardian and protector of his 

 harem. He take takes no food whatever when staying ashore." 



The polusikachi and holustiaki arrive later and congregate in large companies 

 upon the grounds which are usually separate and more distant from the sea than the 

 breeding grounds. The females commence to arrive on May 26, rarely on May 21,. 

 shortly before giving birth to their single pup, the season for the delivery being from 

 the end of May "through the whole of June, and even as late as July 10." The kotiki 

 arrive usually by southerly winds, but not with the same regularity as the others, all 

 not having arrived even by the middle of June, "as there are instances of yearlings 

 having arrived as late as July." The sikatch comes together with the female some 

 time after the birth of the pup, but only once; he "is able to cover from 21 to 25 females 

 in 24 hours." The pups " feed exclusively upon the milk of their mothers until leaving 

 the land. The female never suckles her young while in the water, but coming ashore 

 for that purpose attends her offspring in a restiug position." The pups do not go into 

 the water until they are 30 to 35 days old, becoming familiar with the water when 40 

 to 50 days of age. "The color of the pups when born is black, but from September 

 10 changes to gray, the old hair being cast off." The seals leave the island (St. Paul) 

 gradually, beginning about October 5, and always with north and northwest winds, 

 the young ones remaining longest. A few old bulls may occasionally be seen in 

 November, or even December, but none in January or February. "Very rarely 2 or 3 

 sikatchi show themselves again in March, but always for a very short time only." 



I have thought it worth while to give the above short summary of the natural 

 history as it was known in 1840, since it has been asserted that from the time of 

 Steller to about 1870 "the scientific world actually knew nothing definite in regard to 

 the life history of this valuable animal." Not even the pictorial representation of the 

 northern fur seal in that period was so bad as it has been made to appear, as will 

 be plain from an inspection of Ohoris's drawing of a fur-seal rookery on St. Paul, 



iZapiski ob Ostrovakh Unalashkinskago Otdiela. St. Petersburg, 1840, 2 vols. 



''The arrival of first bulls on Bering Island rookeries are reported for a few years as follows: 



On Copper Island the first bulls, 7 in number, were observed in 1895 on May 13. (Glinka,) 



