68 



THE FUR SEALS OF THE PEIBILOF ISLANDS. 



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

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

 number of seals which had eaten a given species : 



1 



, 1 



1 



Pollock 165 



Squid 163 



Seal fish : 84 



Salmon ^. ....^ : 18 



Lamprey 6 



Cottoid 5 



Cod > 



Wolf fish , 



Octopus 



Unknown 2 



Total 446 



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

 during the months of August and September in Bering Sea: 



Small seal fish 568 



Squid 324 



Pollock 251 



Salmon 10 



Sundry 10 



Total 1,163 



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

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



Pollock only 41 



Squid only 2 



Salmon only 1 



Seal fish only , 1 



Pollock and squid 22 



Pollock and salmon 3 



Pollock and seal fish 3 



Pollock and cod 1 



Pollock and wolf fish 1 



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

 stomachs of seals, young and old : 



Pollock, squid, and seal fish 11 



Pollock, squid, and lamprey 4 



Pollock, squid, and salmon 1 



Pollock, salmon, and seal fish 1 



Pollock, squid, and octopus 1 



Squid and seal fish 6 



Squid, seal fish, and salmon 1 



Total 100 



Ascidians. 



Hermit crab, Ewpagurus irandti. 



Idotea ockotensia. 



Anonyx nngax. 

 Dead shells of Bucdnum. 

 Dead barnacles, in fragments. 



Dead gastropods, in fragments. 

 Opercula of Litonna. 

 Bones of pup seal. 

 Pebbles of lava. 

 Fragments of kelp. 

 Buckshot, a single example. 



Tt 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 the 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 this discriminative selection is 

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

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



' Probably taken with the dead shells of Bucdnum. 



