864 
FOREST AND ^ STREAM. 
are fighting a third will try to steal a cow from one of 
the stations, and may succeed in doing it, but the cow 
is likely to try to return to the place from which she 
was taken. If she attempts this she may be seized at the 
same time by both bulls and sometimes torn to pieces. 
Considerable numbers of dead cows are found each year 
on the rookery which have been killed in this way. In 
1896 131 of these were found. Many of the living cows 
bear scars showing very severe treatment. 
It is to be noticed that while a fur seal may bear 
wounds which seem to be very severe, they do not ap- 
pear greatly to trouble the animal. This is, no doubt, 
largely due to the fact that they cut the skin and the 
■under'lyiag blubber only, and do not usually reach fhe 
muscles. 
As the bulls, and even the cows, fight on the breedmg 
grounds, so the bachelors, and even the young pups, play 
at fighting during much of their time, just as little pup- 
pies and kittens spend much of their time in mimic wars. 
Indeed, fighting or the pretense of fighting seems to be 
a part of the life of all young animals, and is, no doubt, m 
some sense a preparation for the actual conflicts of after 
life. 
About the middle of August, and from this time until 
the middle of October, the adult seals shed their hair 
and acquire a new coat, and between these dates they are 
iiot taken on the land. While this shedding process is 
going on the coat of the seal is said to be "stagy," and 
the fur is in such condition that it cannot be satisfactorily 
handled by the furriers who prepare the hides for the 
market. .,11 
Besides the arrival of the different animals already 
mentioned, the young ones and two-year-old-females must 
be spoken of. They reach the islands about Aug._ i, the 
two-year-olds coming up into the rookeries, while the 
yearlings do not land much before September. Most of 
the time of these yearlings is spent in the water, playmg 
about close to the shore, and often mingling with the 
pups. About the end of July the old bulls that have been 
on shore since Mav i begin to return to the water and 
to seek feeding grounds, and by Aug. 10 the adult bulls 
have almost all gone, and the younger bulls have taken 
their places on the rookeries. 
Among the adult seals on the rookeries there seems to 
be but a slight mortality. A few cows are killed and a 
few bulls in their fighting, but the loss of either is hardly 
worth considering. Among the pups, however, there is 
a much greater mortalitv, which amounts in some places 
to 15 or 20 per cent, of" the births. These deaths come 
chiefly from a small parasitic worm which infests sandy 
areas where the seals are crowded, and where the ground 
has become filtViy. The embryo of the worm on the fur 
of the mother is taken in by the nursing pup, developes 
in the intestines, feeding upon the blood, and causes the 
pup to die of anasmia. The disease is one peculiar to 
infancy, and the pups which do not die before the middle 
of August outgrow the disease. Besides this cause, the 
only other is starvation through the death of the mother, 
due to pelagic sealing. „ . , , c -nt 
As winter approaches, usually in the month of JSioveni- 
ber, the cows and pups leave the islands, the pups by this 
time being weaned. Not much is known about their 
natural enemies except that the killer whale is known to 
destroy many seals. , , 1 
After the cows and the young have gone, the bachelors 
still remain, and sometimes spend the whole winter about 
the island, if the sea is free from ice. On the whole, 
however, the seals are usually gone from the island about 
Dec. I. The voung males and the cows go south, the lat- 
ter probably as far south as the Santa Barbara Channel, 
off southern California. Cows have been taken m the 
Pacific Ocean in the latitude of southern California early 
in December, so that the southward journey must be 
made rapidly. After they have turned about, the return 
movement northward is slower, the seals being taken m 
January or February off the coast of California, and m 
March April and May off the coasts of Washington and 
Vancouver Island. A chart of their migrations has been 
prepared by Mr. Townsend, of the Fish Commission, and 
is published in a Government report. 
Widely varying estimates of the numbers of fur seals 
on the Pribilof Islands have been made at different times 
by different investigators who have spent much time on 
the islands. These vary from more than four and a half 
millions down to less than one hundred thousand; but 
none of them are now regarded as at all reliable, because 
usually they have been based on a mingling of guesses and 
estimates, both of which have since been shown to be 
■wrong The earlier enumerations of the fur seals were 
made on this plan: The area of the rookeries was guessed 
at and Ulien the number of seals to the acre was e_sti- 
mated. With these data, if they can so be termed Mr. 
Tingle, in 1886, gave the number of seals as 4,768,430 
breeding seals and young, while Messrs. True and Town- 
sendi in 1895, gave the number of cows, including the 
yeariings and two-year-olds, as 70,423. The latest pub- 
lished figures, to be found in Prof. David Starr Jordan s 
report of the Fur Seals and Fur Seal Islands of the 
North Pacific Ocean, enumerates only the breeding cows, 
and these are counted by a method which is certain— that 
is to say, by counting the pups, for it is known that the 
female gives birth only to a single young one. 
For some time after birth the new-born pups do not 
venture into the water, or, if they do so, they enter it^ 
only for a few moments, and at once clamber to the 
shore again. At this time they cannot swim, and are 
only beginning to learn what the water is. The number 
"of pups, when counted, gives the number of mothers, 
which a count of the cows will not give, for the reason 
that at no one time are all the cows found on the rook- 
eries; they are coming and going constantly. A long 
series of counts of cows made at different rookeries shows 
that the pups usually outnumber the cows two to one. 
and sometimes the proportion is nearly three to one and 
yet it is positively established that the cow gives birth 
only to a single pup. In 1896, and again in " 1897, the 
pups were carefully counted within four days on .both 
i'iiands, and in this wav the total number of mothers was 
ascertained to be, in 1897, on St. Paul's Island, 112,864 
and on St. George's, 16,352. The number of bulls, was 
less than 4,500, which gives a total of the two islands, in- 
cluding the young of the year, of 262,850 breeding .seals 
and young. This of course does not include the non- 
breeding seals, whose number can only be guessed at. 
We know that 20,000 skins were taken, most of which 
were three-year-old seals. No .skins of yearlings were 
taken. It is'supposed that 25,000 three-year-old males and 
a like number of females survived in 1897, and it is con- 
jectured that there were perhaps 40,000 two-year-olds and 
60,000 yearlings. The total number of seals, therefore, on 
the Pribilof Islands during the season of 1897 was, in 
round numbers, 400,000, divided as follows: 
Breeding females 129,216 
Pups born 129,216 
Active bulls 4.4i8 
Idle bulls (estimated) 5,000 
Half bulls (estimated) 10,000 
Three-year-old males (estimated) 25,000 
Two-year-olds of both sexes (estimated).. 40,000 
Yearlings of both sexes (estimated) . 60,000 
Total 402,850 
From this total must be deducted the losses to the heird 
during that season, and these are estimated to be as fol- 
lows: 
Pups, from disease, injury, etc. ■ • 7,7SO 
Pups, from starvation. - ■ ■ . 14,000 
Bachelors, killed for their skins. 20,890 
Pelagic catch (Bering Sea) 16,464 
Total 59,104 
Leaving the total number of seals alivfe when the herd 
left the island, 343,746. 
It is understood that these figures are to be relied on 
only so far as the breeding animals and the pups born 
during the year are concerned. All the other items are 
estimated, and however close these estimates may be, they 
cannot be proved. 
A continuation of such careful enumeration will give 
us many useful facts with regard to the condition of the 
seal herd in the future. In any year the number of pups 
can be ascertained. Three years later it is possible to 
ascertain closely the number of seals which survive to 
the age when they may be killed. Such enumeration con- 
tinued year after year would finally enable us to know 
precisely how many seals might be killed, and what the 
condition of the herd is. G. B. G. 
[to be concluded.] 
Natural Artificial Incubators. 
Perhaps the most remarkable habit in all bird life is 
that adopted in the reproduction of the birds known as 
megapodes, or big feet. This is a group of gallinaceous 
bird,s, closely allied to the curassows, which inhabit 
America from Texas through Mexico, as far south as 
Brazil aqd Peru, one species being known as chicallaca. 
Though so closely related, the tw^o groups have nothing 
in common so far as their habits go, since the curassows 
spend almost all their time in the trees, where they build 
their nests, upon which they sit, hatching out the eggs 
after the manner of most other birds. The megapodes, 
on the other hand, although Capable of flight, spend most 
of their time on the ground. They are swift runners, and 
always prefer to avoid danger in this way, though when 
hard pressed they will fly, and fly well. When alarmed 
they often take refuge on the low branches of neighbor- 
ing' trees, and by springing from branch to branch easily 
reach the tree tops. They appear to be rather nocturnal 
in habit, and although often seen by day, are more active 
at night. , 
The megapodes are chiefly found' in' the Australian 
region, yet not exclusively so. They are found eastward 
of that region, through Samoa, west to the Nicobars 
and north to the Philippines. They are of many differ- 
THE BRUSH TURKEY. 
enf stJrts and sizes, and range from birds as large as 
pigeons up to those the size of a turkey. They are 
characterized by feet of. great size and strength, and their 
wings are short arid.Tound. ' Some species have the head 
entirely feathered; -o^thers nearly naked, while in still 
others this naked "skin is thickly sprinkled with hair. 
Many of them havg^ifeshy outgrowths about the head or 
on the neck, and t&sft are often highly colored. 
By far the mo.stiih|eresting thing about these birds is 
the way in which the. young are hatched. This is done 
in two ways, but in- each case by artificial heat, the 
parents preparing an incubator, in which the eggs are 
deposited. 
With certain species this incubator is a mound 
of vegetable matter, the heat of which, as it decays, at 
length causes the egg to hatch. The building of these 
mounds is an operation of considerable magnitude. The 
Australian megapode either grasps with its 'fdot a mass 
of soil, dead ' leaves and other vegetable' matter, and 
with a powerful 'push backward throws it behind it, or 
by vigorous and continued scratching, while it moves 
•backward, collects such a mass. The males assist the 
females in building the mound, and the work is performed 
intelligently. Sometimes these mounds are quite srnall; 
at others they are very large. Usually they are conical, 
and are added to year by year, so that after a time 
they may reach an incredible size. One has been meas- 
sured that was 50 feet in diameter, and to form it the 
ground in the neighborhood had been scraped bare of 
vegetable matter. Some of the mounds are very old 
and bear large trees, which have grown from them. 
After the mound is ready for use, the birds scratch 
deep holes in it and lay their eggs, which are then cov- 
ered with the material, or sometimes long burrows are 
bored into the mound and eggs are laid in them. 
Other species lay their eggs in circles near the top of 
the mound. In some cases the eggs are white; in others 
they are coffee-colored or brown. Whatever the original 
color, they must soon become soiled by contact with the 
materials among which they are deposited. In _ some 
cases several females are said to lay their eggs in- the 
same mound; in others a single bird occupies a smaller 
mound. Thus the native pheasant of South and West 
Australia is said to scratch out a hole in the ground, to 
fill this with leaves and grass, and then to heap over it 
a pile of the same material. Upon this sand is thrown. 
An egg is laid and covered up at one point on the 
mound, another on the opposite side (but at the same", 
level), a third between these two, and a fourth opposite 
to it. In this way six or eight eggs are deposited. In 
this species the mother is reported to remain in the 
vicinity of the mound and to take charge of the newly 
hatched young, and in this respect she is unlike many of 
the other megapodes. 
The very large brush turkey of eastern Australia forms 
mounds of earth and dead leaves which are sometimes 
6 feet high. The top of the mound is hollowed out and 
eggs are laid in circles, one above another, and are cov- 
ered up with earth. There are laid from twenty to forty 
eggs in a mound. This species has bred in captivity in 
the gardens of the Zoological Society at London, and 
the young left the mound within one day after hatching. 
Not all the megapodes build mounds, however, for 
some deposit their eggs in open sand wastes or on 
beaches above high-water mark, where the work of in- 
cubation is performed by the heat of the sun. Some very 
interesting notes on one of these species are given by 
Mr. C. M. Woodford, in some remarks on the zoology 
of the Solomon Islands, which are published in the 
Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 
"One of the most interesting birds I met with was the 
Megapodius brenchleyi — a bird allied to the mound- 
building Talegalla of Australia. This species was first 
described from a fresh-hatched specimen brought home 
by the late Julius Brenchley, and figured in his 'Voyage 
of the Curacoa.' This bird, although only about the size 
of a large pigeon, lays an egg bigger than that of a 
duck. It is comrnonly distributed throughout the group 
and allied species are, I believe, found on the group to the 
east and southeast; but it is upon the Island of Savo 
that it is found in the greatest abundance. Here the eggs 
form an important item in the daily food supply of the 
natives, and I have bought, when calling there, as many 
as ten eggs for one stick of tobacco, value about 
three farthings. The Savo natives have a curious legerid 
connected with this bird. They hold the shark in great 
veneration, and say that their island was made by the 
shark, which brought the stones together and placed upon 
them a man, a woman, the yam plant and the megapodes. 
Things went well for a time, and the people increased, 
and so did the megapodes. 
At last the people went to the shark and complained 
that the megapodes had made much havoc among the 
yam patches by digging holes to lay their eggs in ; so they 
asked the shark to take the megapodes away. This was 
done, but now the natives missed the megapodes' eggs; 
so they asked the shark to bring the megapodes back, but 
to confine them to one spot. The request was also 
complied with, and the result may now be seen. The 
megapodes lay their eggs on two large sand spaces, and 
nowhere else on the island. Upon these no weeds or 
grass can grow, as the sand is constantly being turned 
over by the birds when digging holes to lay their 
eggs in, and by the natives when in search of them. The 
sandy spaces are fenced off into plots, which belong to 
different owners. • 
"I met one of these megapodes' laying yards at Aola, 
on Guadalcanar, and was fortunate enough to be able to 
photograph it. The first yard was nearly half a mile iti 
length and about 50 yards wide, with the fences dividing 
it off for dift'erent owners. * * * All over the yard 
■ may be noticed the tracks of the tails of the large 
monitors, as though a stick had been drawn along the 
sand. I expect they take a pretty severe toll of the egg.s. 
The eggs, which are buried from a foot to two feet in the 
warm sand, receive no further care from the birds, but 
the young shift for themselves from the time of 
htaching, and can fly at once, or very soon after leaving 
the egg. The natives are quite indifferent as to the con- 
dition of the eggs when they eat them — whether they are 
newly laid or well advanced toward hatching being all 
the same to them. From experience I can say that they 
are excellent food. 
"The laying yards' are always made where the soil is 
loose and sandy; the birds require no other inducement. 
An open space being of course essential to allow the rays 
of the sun to warm the ground, it would evidently b.e 
quite useless for the birds to lay in the thick forest or 
under the shade of trees. It i.s easy to imagine that before 
the natives constructed and cleared these laying yards for 
the birds they would be likely to lay in the yam patches 
and garden clearihgs, and where they were plentiful 
would prove, a serious inconvenience, as alleged in the 
Savo legend. 
"The birds do not build a mound, but make a hole 
from a foot to two feet deep. The sand afterward falls 
in and covers, tire egg. The ground is consequently full 
of depressions,, reminding one forcibly of the pitfalls of 
the ant-lion on a large scale." 
When hatched the young megapode is fully feathered 
and it is abte.'.to .fly almost at once, and in almost all 
case's it' ihift^ /or itself from the beginning. ' They are 
said to linger "^bout the mound for a short time, btjt 
