84 THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



I have never heard of, nor have I any knowledge 



Norman Hodg$on,p.ZG7, of, any fur-seal rookeries in the North Pacific 



other than those on the seal islands of Bering Sea. 



Fr JcK -tl 235 Neither do I know of any fur-seal rookeries 



other than those on the seal islands of Bering Sea. 



I know of no rookeries in the North Pacific other than those on 

 the seal islands of Bering Sea, and have never 

 E. L. Lawson, p. 221. heard of any others from a reliable source. 



The Alaska fur-seals breed only on the islands of St. Paul and St. 



George, of the Pribilof group, in Bering Sea. 

 H. H. Molntyre, p. 40. They have been unsuccessfully searched for at 



every other point along the coast. In 1872 Captain 

 Archimandritoff spent the greater part of the summer in a schooner 

 looking for a reef or island alleged to lie to the southward of Unalaska. 

 His cruise was fruitless, not only at this point, but at several others 

 where he was led by some legendary tale or delusive dream to expect 

 to find seal rookeries. Since that date the coast has been explored at 

 every point, and it may be safely stated as a fact that no other rookeries 

 exist on the northwest coast of the North American continent or the 

 islands adjacent thereto. 



The seals are migratory and return, as I believe, after migration to the 

 vicinity and probably to the ground or rookery on 

 H. H. Molntyre, p. 40. which they were born. I have in several cases seen 

 a certain seal with his harem during a number of 

 consecutive seasons in the same spot. They are attracted to the islands 

 in preference to other places by closely defined hereditary habits of mi- 

 gration, which take them from and to their breeding places with constant 

 regularity, varied only within the limit of a very few days by meteorologi- 

 cal conditions. The isolation and climate no doubt first induced their 

 liabitat upon these islands. If there has been any authentic observation 

 < if the birth of seals at other points on the northwest coast of North Arner- 

 ica, which I very much doubt, the case was anomalous and accidental. No 

 doubt the young are occasionally aborted, out of season and out of place, 

 and such birth may, perhaps, have been witnessed, but should not form 

 the basis for any valuable deduction in locating the home of the animals. 



The fur-seals of Alaska are bred and born on the islands of the Pribit 

 lof group in Bering Sea, where they find corn- 

 er, w. Molntyre, p. 135. bined the conditions requisite to their existence, 

 of isolation, climate, and proximity to food sup- 

 ply. * * * 



They evidently have no fixed or definite "hauling ground" to visi- 

 [ after leaving the islands], as it would have been 

 H. W. Molntyre, p. 136. discovered long since; but as they can sleep as 

 well as find food at sea; they have no occasion to 

 land until warned by the reproductive instinct to return to the place of 

 their birth — their home — which they do, and are often found at precisely 

 the place occupied during the preceding season or seasons. In evidence 

 of this I have observed seals bearing unmistakable marks for identifica- 

 tion return to the same spot year after year. 



