Fur Seal Otoes alascanus (Jordan & Clark) Called also Sea Bear. Length. 6 feet. (Female 3 feet 10 inches.) Description. Body covered with a very fine soft underfur and a coarser, longer growth of hair overlying it; colour chestnut-brown to black, in old individuals strongly mixed with gray, especially above. Females very much smaller and generally lighter than the males. Range. Pribilof Islands, Bering Sea in the breeding season, at other times all along the coast of California. Of all our native American animals none have been brought so prominently to the attention of the general public as the fur seal of Alaska. Ever since the discovery of their breeding grounds in the North Pacific and the realization of the value of their skins in the markets of the world, they have been the cause of legislation and disputes in which Russia, the United States and Great Britain have been involved. The many government investigations, with their voluminous reports, have given us a more exhaustive account of the life and habits of the fur seal than we possess of any of our other animals; and, indeed, a beast possessing so many peculiarities is well worthy of the attention, entirely apart from the commercial side of the question. Originally all the fur seals of the North Pacific were regarded as representing but one species, but it now appears that there are three distinct herds which keep quite separate from one another and which form three recognizable races or species, differing both in colour and structure. The most numerous and at the same time only strictly American species is the Alaskan fur seal of the Pribilof Islands, the other species inhabiting respectively Bering and Medni Islands, and Robben Island in the Sea of Okhotsk. The fur seal is a migratory animal, spending the summer and autumn in its breeding ground on the Pribilofs and passing the winter at sea, ranging down the coast as far as southern California. The females reach maturity at the end of their second year, while the males do not gain their full size and strength until seven years old. As in most gregarious and polygamous animals this results in several distinct stages of growth which are designated by the sealers by special names. There are the adult "bulls" and "cows," as well as the new-born "pups," while the young males of three years are the "bachelors" and the older ones the "half bulls." The summer life of the breeding ground or "rookeries" as described by visitors is exceedingly interesting. About the first of May the old bulls begin to arrive and take up their positions on the bleak rocky beaches. By June the cows appear and as fast as they land are taken in hand by the bulls, each one eventually surrounding himself by a "harem" which he guards and rounds up, forcing back any cow that attempts to escape. The single pup is born shortly after the arrival of the cow and as soon as it has become sufficiently strong to be left she repairs to the sea to feed, returning to it at intervals. Meanwhile the "bachelors" and "half bulls" arrive at the rookery, but herd by themselves and make no attempt to intrude upon the harems. The late arriving bulls which fail to secure harems locate immediately behind their more fortunate rivals and by their efforts to encroach upon adjoining harems or steal cows they continually precipitate desperate fights which frequently result in their own destruction and cause great uproars throughout the rookery. The old bulls, which often for a space of two months have been forced to fast in order to maintain their positions in the rookery, begin to seek their feeding ground at sea about the middle of July. They are usually much emaciated as compared with their fat, sleek appearance at the beginning of the season, the great thick coat of blubber having been absorbed to supply their bodies in lieu of food. The killing for the market is restricted to the bachelor seals, which from their habit of herding apart from the others can readily be driven aside, and those desirable for killing selected. The skins of four-year-old animals are less valuable and those of the old bulls worthless. By the exercise of care and the enforcement of a definite limit to the number to be killed in a year, the stock of seals could easily be maintained, but the pelagic sealing when the animals are away from their rookeries is most destructive.