102 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 



DOES THE FEMALE SEAL NURSE HER OWN PUP ONLY? 



The question whether the mother seal nurses her own pup only, or whether she 

 will allow other pups to suck her promiscuously, has been causing quite a controversy. 

 To persons who have not studied the question on the rookeries with the closest 

 attention it seems an absurdity to suppose that a female seal, after an absence of a 

 day or more, during which her pup has been mingling with the thousands of other 

 pups and roaming all over the rookery with them, should be able to find it and 

 recognize it. During my visit to the islands in 1882-83 the question was not up, and 

 I had paid no special attention to it. On thinking of the multitudes of pups which I 

 had seen podded together in those days I was, therefore, on theoretical grounds, 

 strongly inclined to side with those who deny that such a search and recognition 

 takes place, and I so expressed myself to Mr. True when we talked this matter over on 

 our way to the Pribilof Islands. I resolved, however, to pay special attention to this 

 question. The great difficulty lies in the impracticability of so singling out a number 

 of mothers tcith their young and so marking them that they could be individually 

 reconizable at a distance and for several days at least. Only in this way would it be 

 possible to gather proof conclusive to others than the observer himself, particularly 

 to persons who might not be willing to accept his other observations as final. 



My observations on the rookeries, however, have been sufficient to convince me 

 that I was wrong in doubting the ability of the mother to find and recognize her 

 individual offspring among thouands of pups of identically the same appearance. 

 Some of these observations noted down in my diary follow here in the very words 

 written down on the spot. 



Kishotchnoye roolcery, Bering Island, July 16, 1896. — Old bulls are certainly scarce and of holustiaki 

 I have thus far seen none. Pups are very plentiful, and the females do not appear to have been barren 

 when they arrived. The pups are already "podding," and the two backward extensions on either 

 side of the "parade" consist chiefly of pups. 



The niiitki come and go, especially those that are wet and apparently just in from the sea, while 

 the dry ones [meaning those with the fur dried from having been longer ashore] lie still, sunning and 

 fanning themselves. 



Right in front of me, about 200 feet away, is a small group of 6 dry niatki and close to them a pod 

 of about 50 pups. About 20 feet to the left is a, lonely sikatch ; then another similar group of dried 

 matki and pups. The dry mothers are silent and lie down sleepily. The bull has not changed his 

 position, his nose sticking right up into the air, during the last hour ; he probably sleeps. Occasionally 

 a wet matka [i. e., with wet fur] comes ambling up from the sea, and fighting her way through the harems 

 next to the water's edge ilnally reaches this group, which is located at the posterior left-hand horn of 

 the breeding ground— the very edge of the rookery. Such a matka will stop occasionally, shake her 

 head and bleat (apparently in auger); a few pups will rush at her; she noses them; finally shows 

 her teeth, bleats, shakes her head, and ambles away to repeat the performance at the next pod. A 

 matka with only a large wet spot on the hind quarters [she had consecjuently been a considerable time 

 out of the water] came up in this fashion to this pod, and after nosing about in the midst of it finally 

 grabbed a pup by the skin of its neck, much to the disgust of the pup, apparently, and carried the 

 little one ofif, part of the way holding it in her mouth, part of the way pushing it ahead between her 

 fore flippers. In this manner she brought it through several pods of pups and groups of fem-iles down 

 to an old sikatch, a distance of fully l,-)0 feet, where she lies down, but I can not see whether she is 

 nursing the pup, as she is down in a hollow. I see, however, that the pup tries to escape— probably 

 wants to go back to play — but is brought back every time. 



Some of these wet matki will stop several minutes in front of four or five pups and nose them 

 repeatedly, as if in doubt, before they go ii way. ' * '' 



There is a remarkable individual variation in the voice of the females. 



