of late nursing lasting from about 15 Septem- 

 ber to 20 October and a period of weaning from 

 about 25 October to 25 November, followed by 

 the departure of seals of all age classes. 

 A few stragglers, especially older males, may 

 stay. In 1961 the number of pups dropped 

 sharply after 12 November, and none were 

 seen after 27 November. The mean departure 

 date for pups in 1962 was 8 November. Ken- 

 yon 1 stated that Wilke and Banner observed 

 a decrease in fur seal pups from a count of 

 2,190 on 6 November to only 1 on 3 December 

 at Kitovi Rookery in 1941. J. B. Crowley (In 

 Jordan, 1898, part II.) observed a noticeable 

 decrease of seals on St. Paul Island after 

 19 November 1886. 



Peterson 19 stated that violent storms in 

 November appeared to have more effect in 

 causing the seals to leave than did low tem- 

 peratures. His observations on St. Paul Island 

 fit with those of Walter Dyakanoff (personal 

 communication, 21 November 1966), who said 

 that fur seal pups usually first appeared in 

 the vicinity of Unalaska after periods of 

 northeasterly gales. 



Kenyon, 20 quoting Admiral Zeusler from 

 Captain Hooper's report of 21 November 1892, 

 reported that "A record kept at Unalaska for 

 the past twelve years [1880-92?] shows the 

 average date of the first appearance of seals 

 in the bay [Unalaska Bay?] to be Oct. 24th and 

 the average date of the last appearance to be 

 Jan. 1st, the earliest and last dates being re- 

 spectively Oct. 18 and Jan. 4th." 



Fiscus et al. (1964) reported adult males in 

 the vicinity of the eastern Aleutian Islands in 

 August and immature females were abundant 

 north of Unimak Pass in early October. 



Scheffer 21 and Kenyon observed one or two 

 seals daily along the north side of the Aleutian 

 Islands, between Unalaska and Attu Islands, 

 from 27 October through 17 November 1947. 



In early November 1956, P. Hansen, affili- 

 ation unknown (letter, 1 November 1956), found 

 a dead, tagged pup and "considerable numbers" 

 of dead, untagged pups on the beach between 

 Port Heiden and Port Moller on the north side 

 of the Alaska Peninsula. 



In November 1957, a Mr. Deigh, affiliation 

 unknown (letter, 20 December 1957), of Egegik 

 in Bristol Bay, mistakenly shot a fur seal pup 

 for a land otter 16 km. (10 statute miles) up- 

 stream from the mouth of the Egegik River. 

 The animal had been tagged in August of that 

 year on the Pribilof Islands. 



On 28 November 1957, A. H. Johnson, affili- 

 ation unknown (letter, 28 November 1957), 



found a dead tagged pup on the beach at Heren- 

 deen Bay on the north side of the Alaska Penin- 

 sula. 



On 22 November 1960, V. Berns, Refuge 

 Manager, Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wild- 

 life (letter, 22 November I960), found a female 

 fur seal pup crossing overland from Izembek 

 Bay on the north side of the Alaska Peninsula 

 to Cold Bay on the south side. 



R. D. Jones (1963) reported on several over- 

 land migrations across the Alaska Peninsula 

 from north to south in the late fall and early 

 winter. 



J. P. Cook, affiliation unknown (letter, 

 16 December 1963), found a dead, tagged pup 

 on 16 December 1963 on a beach at the south 

 end of Umnak Island. 



In summary, a few fur seals of both sexes 

 and of various year classes are in the eastern 

 Bering Sea, on the Pribilof Islands, and near 

 the eastern Aleutian Islands in all seasons; 

 however, most of the animals leave in autumn 

 or early winter and do not begin to return until 

 May and June of the following year. Some adult 

 males leave the Pribilof Islands in August or 

 early September. Nursing females and pups 

 begin to leave the vicinity of the Pribilof Islands 

 in mid-October; the mean departure date is in 

 the first or second week of November. By 

 early or mid-December, depending in part on 

 weather conditions, most have departed. 



The pups apparently scatter on leaving the 

 islands. We assume that they travel in a 

 southerly direction since pups have never been 

 reported in the Bering Sea north of the Pribilof 

 Islands. Some wander along the north side of 

 the Alaska Peninsula and into Bristol Bay. 

 Pups begin to appear from Bristol Bay west 

 through the eastern Aleutian Islands in late 

 October and early November, and most have 

 moved into the North Pacific by early Decem- 

 ber. Pups were present off the Washington 

 coast in January 1967 (table 26). Only two 

 tagged pups (both males) of Pribilof Islands 

 origin have been taken off the coast of Japan 

 since 1958, one on 7 May I960 22 and one on 

 12 March 1965. 23 



Immature males, females, and adult non- 

 nursing females probably leave the Pribilof 

 Islands about the same time as the nursing 

 females and pups. Some of the immature seals 

 are dispersed across the North Pacific Ocean 

 throughout the year. 



18 see footnote 14. 



19 See footnote 16. 

 2 See footnote 14. 

 21 See footnote 13. 



22 F. Nagasaki, M. Tsuboi, and K. Matsumoto. 1960. 

 Report of Japanese fur seal research in 1960. Tokai Re- 

 gional Fisheries Research Laboratory, Tokyo, 50pp.+ figs. 

 [Processed.] 



23 Tokai Regional Fisheries Research Laboratory. 

 1965. Japanese pelagic investigations on fur seals, 1965. 

 74 pp. [Processed.] 



37 



