78 . ARGUMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



years old. Before this they are not powerful enough to fight the older 

 bulls for positions on the harems. 



17. Cows, when nursing, regularly travel long distances to feed. 

 They are frequently found 100 or 150 miles from the islands, and some- 

 times at greater distances. 



IS. The food of the fur-seal consists of fish, squids, crustaceans, and 

 probably other forms of marine life also. (See Appendix E.) 



19. The great majority of cows, pups, and such of the breeding bulls 

 as have not already gone, leave the islands about the middle of Novem- 

 ber, the date varying considerably with the season. 



20. Part of thenonbreeding male seals (holluschickie), together with 

 a few old bulls, remain until January, and in rare instances until Feb- 

 ruary, or even later. 



21. The fur-seal as a species is present at the Pribilof Islands eight 

 or nine months of the year, or from two-thirds to three fourths of the 

 time, and in mild winters sometimes during the entire year. The 

 breeding bulls arrive earliest and remain continuously on the islands 

 about four months; the breeding eows remain about six months, and 

 part of the nonbi eeding male seals about eight or nine months, and 

 sometimes throughout the entire year. 



22. During the northward migration, as has been stated, the last of 

 the body or herd of fur-seals leave the North Pacific and enter Bering 

 Sea in the latter part of June. A few scattered individuals, however, 

 are seen during the summer at various points along the Northwest 

 Coast; these are probably seals that were so badly wounded by pela- 

 gic sealers that they could not travel with the rest of the herd to the 

 Pribilof Islands. It has been alleged that young fur-seals have been 

 found in early summer on several occasions along the coasts of British 

 Columbia, and southeastern Alaska. While no authentic case of the 

 kind has come to our notice, it would be expected from the large num- 

 ber of eows that are wounded each winter and spring along these coasts 

 and are thereby rendered unable to reach the breeding rookeries and 

 must perforce give birth to their young — perhaps prematurely — wher- 

 ever they may be at the time. 



23. The reason the northern fur-seal inhabits the Pribilof Islands to 

 the exclusion of all other islands and coasts is that it here finds the 

 climatic and physical conditions necessary to its life wants. This spe- 

 cies requires a uniformly low temperature and overcast sky and a foggy 

 atmosphere to prevent the sun's rays from injuring it during the long 

 summer season when it remains upon the rookeries. It requires also 

 rocky beaches on which to bring forth its young. No islands to the 

 northward or southward of the Pribilof Islands, with the possible ex- 

 ception of limited areas on the Aleutian chain, are known to possess 

 the requisite combination of climate and physical conditions. 



All statements to the effect that fur-seals of this species formerly 

 bred on the coasts and islands of California and Mexico are erroneous, 

 the seals remaining there belonging to widely different species. 



In the general discussiou of the question submitted to the Commis- 

 sion it will be convenient to consider the subject under three heads, 

 namely : 



Conditions of seal life in the region under consideration at the pres- 

 ent time. 



Causes, the operation of which lead to existing conditions. 



Remedies, which if applied would result in the restoration of seal life 

 to its normal state, and to its continued preservation in that state. 



