The five years has still sixteen months to run, but the American Government has thought it advisable to ask that the two countries meet and talk the subject over once more, as the laws are not strong enough to protect the seals.

The United States complains now that Canadian and British fishers are killing the seals in the same careless, ignorant way that they did before the Treaty of Paris, and that unless they are stopped there will be no seals in Alaska in a very few years.

The Government says that the habits of the seals must be studied and understood, so that they may be protected, in order that all the fur necessary for market may be obtained, without interfering with the growth of the herds.

Every year the seals arrive in flocks hundreds of thousands strong, and seek a sandy beach, or some nice sunny rocks, where they can spend the summer.  In these places they establish rookeries, or villages, as they are sometimes called.

The fathers of the families come first, arriving in April to seek out comfortable quarters.

In June the mothers come to the island, take possession of the homes provided for them, and pretty soon each seal mother has a nice little seal pup to occupy her home with her.

It is a curious thing about these little seal pups that though they are going to spend their lives in the water, they don’t like the idea of it at all, and have to be forced into the water by their mothers, and taught to swim just as though they were little boys and girls.

Baby seals have nearly white fur when they are born, and, strange to say, until this coat falls off and the dark one comes, their mothers never attempt to take them to the water.

The seals are not the gentle things they appear to be, with their soft brown eyes and their sleek coats.  On the contrary, they are very fierce and warlike if any attempt is made to interfere with their families.

When the fathers first reach the beach, and set about making the home ready for their families, they will not allow any of the young bachelor seals to land near the rookeries.  They force them either to remain in the water, or to go to the highlands above the village.

The bachelor seals think they have as much right to a comfortable home as the older seals, and so they fight hard to enter the villages.

This fighting keeps up the whole summer while the seals are out of the water, and those who have seen these battles say that “night and day, the sound of them is like that of an approaching railway train.”

So steadily does the fighting continue that the old seals have no time to eat, and during the three or four months they stay with their families on the beaches they never take a mouthful of food.  At the end of the time, when they leave the rookeries, they are thin and miserable, and covered with battle scars.

The killing of the seals should be carefully arranged with a knowledge of these habits.