ALLEGED INJURIES PRODUCED BY DRIVING. 101 



have been inflicted. The animals are as soft and pliable as cats, and while there is a good deal of 

 excitement, even panic, and the wildest possible scramble one over the other, none of them seemed to 

 mind it in the least. The whole mass of more than a dozen females wonld occasionally be piled up on 

 top of a little mite of a pup, but he would immediately pick himself up upon being released and 

 plunge into the seething mass with renewed vigor. The scramble was very suggestive of a game of 

 football, and I feel certain that the seals were less injured, externally and internally, than the average 

 football player; and as for the exertion, excitement, and fright of the drive having any influence upon 

 the procreative power of the bulls, as well might it be asserted that the football players impair their 

 virility and render themselves impotent by playing the game. 



Many incidents might be quoted to show how little the seals mind the drive and 

 how soon they forget its hardships. On Bering Island I have repeatedly observed 

 half bulls in a drive trying to mount females in heat during intervals of rest. Another 

 observation is so highly interesting in many ways that I quote it from my diary of 

 July 15, 1895, north rookery, Bering Island, as follows : 



This evening I made a very suggestive observation. While working along the escarpment just 

 west of the salt house I came across a small flock of seals left over from yesterday's drive. They had not 

 returned to the sea, but had located on the very extreme northern point of the escarpment, a consider- 

 able distance from the rookery [about 250 yards] and 30 feet above the sea. I was quite surprised at 

 finding the flock to be a "harem" consisting of 1 bull and aboiit 20 femaleB. I could not count 

 their number exactly, as I did not want to disturb them, but there were about 20 females, and I heard 

 at least one pup, though I did not see it. I took up my position some distance ofi: and watched them. 

 Several of the females were in heat and were alternately teasing the bull, getting him by the throat, 

 but he was kept too busy running around trying to keep the harem together, as some of the females 

 were evidently anxious to return to the rookery. He, on the other hand, was plainly well satisfied 

 with the location and intended to hold it. " * ' Now, these animals were driven yesterday and 

 not let go until after they had reached the killing ground [only 220 yards away from their present 

 location]. In view of the above observation, it seems absurd to assume that the driving had injured 

 them in the least. Nor can this bull be accused of sleepiness— yet bulls are few on the rookery— for 

 he was tept very busy, indeed. 



His vigilance did him no good, however, for the females escaped to the rookery 

 during the night, and the place was entirely deserted when I visited it next morning. 



It is certainly very significant that on Bering Island over a thousand pups are 

 yearly driven to the killing ground, there to be released, without any visible harm 

 coming to them worth mentioning. If these newly born seals can stand to be driven 

 three-fourths of a mile from Kishotchnoye and to be repeatedly trampled npon by 

 the larger ones piling up four high, or more, on top of them, it stands to reason that 

 the vigorous holustiaki— or even the females— as a whole can suffer but little injury 

 from the same cause. 



Before leaving this subject it may be well to recall the following points: 



On Bering Island the drives are easy, while on Copper Island they are exceed- 

 ingly severe. Tet on Copper Island the bulls and half bulls are plentiful, while on 

 Bering Island they are comparatively scarce. The severity of the driving, therefore, 

 does not seem to bear any relation to the relative plenty or scarcity of mature bulls 

 on the rookeries. 



Again, on Bering Island breeding females and pups are always mixed with the 

 bachelors in the drives. This, on the other hand, does but seldom happen on Copper 

 Island, even nowadays. Yet the female seals on Bering Island are proportionately 

 more numerous and do not appear to be less vigorous or less prolific than on Copper 

 Island. Moveover, the productivity of the Copper Island rookeries has evideiirl\- 

 suffered more of late years than those of Bering Mand. The driving, therefore, does 

 not seem to be responsible for the depletion of the rookeries. 



