THE RUSSIAN FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 
77 
Again, on Bering Island breeding females and pops are always mixed with the 
bachelors in the drives. This, on the other hand, does but seldom happen on Coi)per 
Island, even nowadays. Yet tlie female seals on Bering Island are proi)ortionately 
more numerous and do not appeal- to be less vigorous or less ])rolitic than on Copper 
Island. Moreover, the productivity of the Copper Island rookeries has evidently 
suffered more of late years than those of Bering Island. The driving, therefore, does 
not seem to be responsible for the deidetion of the rookeries. 
DOES THE FEMALE SEAL NURSE HER OWN PUP ONLY? 
The question whether the mother seal nnrses her own pnp only, or whether she 
will allow other pups to suck her promisi-uously, 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 nutre, 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 nudtitudes of pups which 1 
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 recogintion 
takes place, and I so exj)ressed myself to Mr. True when we talked this matter over on 
our way to the Pribylof Islands. I resolved, however, to pay siiecial attention to this 
question. The great difficulty lies in the impracticability of so singlirg out a number 
of mothers irith their young and so marking them that they could be individually 
recognizable at a distance and for several days at least. Only in this way would it be 
possible to gather xiroof conclusive to others than the observer himself, jiarticnlarly 
to x)ersons who might not be willing to acceiit 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 l ecognize her 
individual ofispriug among thousands of x>nps of identically the same axqiearance. 
Some of these observations noted down in niy diary follow here in the very words 
written down on the spot. 
Kishotchnoije Itookerij, llcring Island, July 16, 1895 . — Old bulls are certainly scarce .and of liolus- 
ti.aki I have thus far seen none. Pups are very plentiful, and the females do not .appe.ar to have l)een 
barren when they .arrived. The pups are .already “podding,” and the two backward extension.s on 
either side of the “parade” consist chiefly of pups. 
The niatki come and go, especially those that are wet and .app.arently 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 (1 dry niatki and close to them .apod 
of about .50 jmps. About 20 feet to the left is a lonely sikatch; then another similar group of dried 
niatki and imps. 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 hast hour ; ho probably sleeps. Occ.asionally 
a wet matka [i.e., with wet fur] comes .ambling np from the sea, and fighting her way through the h.arems 
next to the water’s edge finally reaches this group, which is loc.ated at the posterior left-hand horn of 
the breeding-ground —the very edge of the rookery. Such .a matka will stop occasionally, sh.ake her 
head and ble.at (.apparently in anger); 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 avith only .a large wet spot on the hind quarters [she had coiise(|uently 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 lin.ally 
grabbed a pup by the skin of its neck, much to the disgust of the jmp, apparently, and carried the 
little one off, part of the way holding it in her month, ]iart of the way jmshing it ahead between her 
