. Condition of seal life on the rookeries of the Pribilof Islands, 1893-1895. Seals (Animals); Sealing. 20 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. Paul, we found seals iu abuudauee. The sea being perfectly smooth. I went out iu the diugey a few hundred yards from the shij) and photo- graphed several seals, showing their positions when asleep and awake. The distance at which we were able to photograph them was from 30 to 40 feet. In the three-quarters of an hour 2(i seals were counted. Most of them were sleeping, and all were females, judging by size alone. The photographs show the customary attitud
. Condition of seal life on the rookeries of the Pribilof Islands, 1893-1895. Seals (Animals); Sealing. 20 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. Paul, we found seals iu abuudauee. The sea being perfectly smooth. I went out iu the diugey a few hundred yards from the shij) and photo- graphed several seals, showing their positions when asleep and awake. The distance at which we were able to photograph them was from 30 to 40 feet. In the three-quarters of an hour 2(i seals were counted. Most of them were sleeping, and all were females, judging by size alone. The photographs show the customary attitudes. Seals sleeping at sea have little more than the nose, lower Jaw, and liind tlii)pers above water, the fore dippers being raised occasionally as the animal scratches itself or rolls slowly from side to side. The back is always down and deeply submerged. As a rule sealing with spears is practicable only when seals are found asleep, the ordinary spearing distance being 30 to 35 feet. To the fur seal's unfortunate habit of sleejiing much at sea is chietly traceable its diminution, for it is at such times most readily approached by the pelagic sealer and taken with guns or spears. The number of seals to be observed asleep in Bering Sea is greater than elsewhere, the migration. Slee])ii!g fur seals. being over and the animals feeding at their natural habitat. It is a well known fact of natural history that breeding male seals do not leave the rookeries during the breeding season, and tliat young pups can not leave the immediate vicinity of the islands until they depart on their first migration southward. From the almost constant ])resence on the hauling grounds of the nonbreeding males, it is also well established that they do not leave the islands to any great extent. The females alone constitute a class that feed at long distances from the islands during the breeding season. Their excursions in search of food extend over liOO miles, and com- mencing soon after the birth of thei
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublisherwashi, bookyear1895
