did not deposit excrement upon their breeding grounds in the same way that all other animals of this class do.

As already stated above, I was attached to the steamer Corwin during the past summer, and I made all the examinations of Nursing females. the stomachs of the seals referred to in Captain Hooper's report, covering, in all, thirty-three seals. I annex hereto photographs of two of the seals which were dissected and examined by me on the deck of the steamer Corwin. These seals were taken on the 2nd day of August, 1892, at a distance of about 175 miles from the islands. The photographs exhibit the mammary glands and convey a good idea of the considerable size of these glands, which in all cases were filled with milk. The inference is unavoidable that the pup is a voracious feeder, and this inference is in keeping with the observations I have made on the rookeries where I have repeatedly seen pups suckle for half an hour at a time. The mammary gland is very widely spread over the lower surface of the animal; beginning between the fore flippers, in fact at the anterior of the sternum, it extends well up under the armpits and back to the pubic bones. The milk glands are quite thick and completely charged with milk. The photographs, especially the first one, exhibit the milk streaming from the glands on to the deck.

Annexed to the report of Captain Hooper is a table giving the results of the examination of forty-one (41) seals which were killed in Bering Sea in 1892. It appears that of this number twenty-two (22) were nursing seals. The photographs hereto annexed show exactly the way all of these nursing female seals looked when cut open on the deck of the Corwin.

Barren females.

From the fact that among the females thus taken and examined there were found mostly nursing cows, with a small number of virgin cows, it is reasonable to conclude that there are practically no barren females swimming about in the sea unattached to the islands, or that at any rate, if such seals exist, they are rarely, if ever, taken. In all my experience I never saw anything to lead me to the conclusion that there is such a thing as a "barren" female. In the case of the virgin cows a careful examination of the uterus proved them to be too immature for conception.

In the stomachs of many of the seals examined as above stated there were found large quantities of fish, mainly codfish. Food of females. There is nothing surprising in this fact, that codfish

should be found in the stomachs of surface feeders such as seals are. While taken at the bottom, the codfish is not restricted to deep water. It is found from the shallows along the shore out to the banks where fishermen usually take them. They are often taken at intermediate depths, but fish taken at the bottom are, as a rule, larger.

The cod is a voracious feeder upon squid which abound at the surface. In Alaskan waters I have taken hundreds with the dip net, after attracting them with the electric light of the Albatross.* In its frequent migrations from bank to bank the cod passes over tracts of ocean where the water is of profound depth. It is a regular feeder upon herring and many other fishes which school at the surface, and in Alaskan waters frequently follows the fisherman's bait from the bottom to the surface.

As a result of my combined observations upon land and water, as herein before detailed, I have no hesitation in stating positively that soon after a female gives birth to her young she leaves the island in

*See Report of Work of Albatross, Bull. U. S. Fish Com.. 1888.

quest of food, that she travels great distances in search of it, and that she returns to the islands heavily laden with milk.

While hunting in the Corwin's boats many seals were fired upon when asleep. They usually sleep with their head to leeward and keep it moving uneasily from side to side, but with

Pelagic sealing.

the nose held clear of the water. A sleeping seal has his vital parts pretty well submerged-the nose, lower jaw, and flippers being usually held above the surface, although a little more appears at times accordng to the condition of the sea and the movements of the animal.

Wounding.

One has to be very close to get a shot at the head that will kill it. Many times the animal is wounded sufficiently to get out of reach of the hunter before it dies. I had very little difficulty in approaching sleeping seals close enough for a fair shot, but much in killing them. Fair shots that scattered the charge all about them, hitting the flippers, I firmly believe, and in some cases. drawing plenty of blood, were usually without result, until I learned to fire directly at the head. Then the shots began to prove fatal, but even then, unless hit in a vital part the animals got away, though bleeding freely. At first I blamed the ineffectual firing on the cartridges, but the cartridges proved all right as soon as I learned to aim at the head and not at the animal as a whole.

I learned after some experiment that seals which dashed away apparently uninjured were usually hurt, and after following them persistently, at great labor to the boat-pullers, found that they were bleeding. I believe that the majority of sleeping seals fired at are struck. The number killed at the Islands with buckshot in them bears out this claim to a considerable extent. I do not Most sleeping seals see how an ordinary marksman can shoot at so large a target as a seal at short range with a double-barrel gun loaded with 21 buckshot without striking some of the exposed portions of the animal. It is from the instantly killed, that seals are secured; the wounded animal uses its death struggle to get out of reach. What proportion

struck.

the seals reaching the Pribilofs with shot in them bear to those which are fired at and escape (wounded, as I state above) is not known, but I believe that fully as many perish leaving no trace as recover sufficiently to reach the islands.

Sinking.

Feeding seals shot when raising their heads about the boats from curiosity are more likely to be killed instantly than sleeping seals, but they sink more quickly. A clear shot at the head is afforded, which knocks the life completely out of them, and the rest of the body being under water at the time it would seem that the pressure upon the limp body forces the air from it. As a rule seals killed instantly, when the head is entirely clear of the water, go down quickly, sinking stern foremost. Sleeping seals killed when the head is low in the water float for a time, the head settling into the water first, the air is retained in the body and it floats. I shot a seal off Guadeloupe Island in May when it raised its head close to the boat, killing it instantly. It sank before we could reach it with the gaff and continued sinking, stern first, as we could plainly see far below in the clear water.

Another illustration of the wastefulness of pelagic sealing might be found in the number of cartridges expended. During Waste of life. the work of the Corwin no record of this kind was kept. The hunter usually carried two or three dozen cartridges, which were as a rule expended before they returned to the ship. The number of seals lost by sinking, number wounded, and number secured were recorded. Repeated firing from the boats was often heard on board ship and a large number of empty shells would be returned, when Ammunition used. comparatively few seals were definitely reported as secured, lost, or wounded, all other shots being supposed to be misses. I do not think this feature has received proper consideration. The hunters were certainly average marksmen, and it is my belief that the great majority of the sleeping seals fired at were struck. The guns used were 10-bore Parkers, loaded with 21 buckshot. Time after time I have seen the heavy charge strike about the sleeping seal, fully expecting to see it killed, when, to my utter surprise, it would dive and come up beyond our reach. It is incredible that the great number of seals thus escaping were uninjured. How can one always find traces of blood or signs of injury when the frightened animal is retreating at a rate so rapid that it is soon out of sight, and especially as its course is mainly under water, and it only appears at the surface with a porpoiselike leap to catch its breath and then dives again,

CHARLES H. TOWNSEND, Subscribed and sworn to before me this 10th day of December, A. D.

1892.
[SEAL.]

JNO. B. RANDOLPH,
Notary Public.

Deposition of William H. Williams, United States Treasury Agent in charge of Pribilof Islands.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,

City of Washington, ss:

William H. Williams, being duly sworn, says:

The British Commissioners, upon their arrival at the Pribilof Islands in 1891, presented me a letter signed by Chas. Foster, Secretary of the