Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo18amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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Courtrs)! of flfnr:,,- Wilhtt We took a pup alive back to tlic sliip. a glossy black little fellow, which ceased its childlike cries onlv when held in onr arms We saw seals playing in the water or flop- ping out on the shining bars, but did not molest them. They were so tame that we approached within a few feet, and one half- grown pup lying out on a bar, flat on his back, rolled over and beat a hasty retreat only when I tickled him with the toe of my boot. The old females, however, were a little touchy when we approached too near the pups, and one of the sailors had a close call when an irate old lady slid down a bank— under which the sailor had been boredly awaiting our departure and where only a sailor's agility saved him from a drub- bing. The main rookery was located on the large island visited by Mr. Willett. It was topped with a scanty growth of tough wire grasses, just enough to keep the sand from drifting before the steady trade winds. Here we found about twenty females with pups, glossy black little fellows, a few half-grown ones and a very small number of bulls, prob- ably fewer than sixty individuals in the rookery. It would be folly, of course, even to estimate the number of individuals at sea, but they must be few when we consider the pitifully small showing of young in the main breeding colony. We took a pup back to the ship, and kept it alive for some time, but its distress was so great and its almost childlike cries so dis- tracted the officers that we finally were obliged to kill it. The only time the little fellow would stop crying was when we held him in our arms. We considered ourselves fortunate to have discovered the breeding colony of these seals whose real habitat has been a sort of mys- tery so long, and we contented ourselves with taking the three specimens I have mentioned. We felt that even with the favorable condi- tions which they have for their mode of life, the colony seems far from successful, and that an intimate study of their home life during the breeding season is very desirable. The Laysan Seal Bv J. A. xVL LEN THE observations on the monk seal of the Laysan Islands here recorded by Mr. Bailey furnish highly interest- ing information respecting a hitherto little- known mammal, the existence of which, as he states, was first maile known in 100.1, when a skin and skull, parts of two other skulls, and a headskin were brought to the natural history museum in Bremen by its director, Dr. Schauinsland. These were de- scribed by Dr. Matschie of the Berlin Mu- seum, by whom the species was named Mo- ;J99

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