BRANDING NOT DETRIMENTAL TO SEALS. 327 



scab, leaving the healing skin in a pinkish condition resembling the color of corned 

 beef. • 



During this time the pups appeared very uncomfortable when out of the water, 

 as the skin tended to dry and crack and doubtless the movements of the animals 

 caused them pain. On going again into the water the wounds were softened up and 

 washed out. With each return from the sea they became narrower until healing was 

 finally completed in about three weeks to a month after the branding. The pups then 

 appeared in their usual spirits and seemed not to have suffered any inconvenience by 

 their experiences. 



While the wounds were still sore the pups manifested little disposition to play. 

 They resented the curious attention which their companions sometimes gave to their 

 backs. Occasionally a mother would smell the back of her branded pup, which called 

 forth its vigorous protest. As a rule, however, as characteristic of the wounds of the 

 fur seals in general, neither the animals themselves nor their companions paid any 

 attention to the wounds from branding. 



That no adverse change in the habits of the seals resulted from the branding is 

 clear from the fact that no alteration was seen in the relations of the pups and their 

 mothers. They were treated exactly as if nothing had happened. The relations of the 

 puj)s among themselves remain unaffected. Five out of nine of the adult cows were 

 found in 1897 on the breeding grounds with their pups. One of the cows was found 

 in a harem on Lukanin rookery, in practically the same spot from which she was driven 

 at the time' of her branding in 1896. 



Only four of the branded pups were positively known to have died, and the rookeries 

 of Kitovi and Lukanin were closely inspected on various occasions with a view to find- 

 ing them, if present. One of these was killed to furnish a specimen skin. Another 

 was found in good condition at high-water mark on Lukanin beach, plainly drowned. 

 A third was killed while almost dead from starvation. The cause of death in the case 

 of the fourth could not be determined, because the animal was long dead when found 

 and decomposition was far advanced. At the time of the count of dead pups in Octo- 

 ber, 18 of the branded pups and 2 of the branded cows on St. Geprge were seen all in 

 perfect condition and the brands showed distinctly. Throughout this month an inspec- 

 tion of Lukanin and Kitovi rookery on any day showed from 50 to 100 of the branded 

 pups, which was a large percentage considering the difficulties of an inspection. 



On our way to the islands in the season of 1897 we obtained,, through the kjndness 

 ' of Mr. Gray, the agent of the Alaska Commercial Company at Unalaska, the skin of 

 a branded pup which had been taken late in November by the natives at Akun Island. 

 This skin showed the fiir of the pup in a more advanced stage than the one taken on 

 the islands in October. The brand was perfectly healed except for a slight break in 

 the skin at the crossing of the brands. The skin was tanned with a view to determin- 

 ing the effect of branding on the prepared pelt. This demonstrated more clearly than 

 ever the true effect of the branding. When the blubber was removed and the skin 

 was worked over, the part which had been affected by the brand in places fell out, 

 leaving a long slit in the skin. 



This fact adds emphasis to the statement made in 1896 by Mr. J. D. Williams, of 

 Brooklyn, N. Y., a dyer and dresser of seal skins, that "if a brand were to be applied 

 to the back of the seal even so imperfectly as to leave no permanent scar or trace in 



