HOME OF THE FUR-SEAL. 85 



I have never seen nor heard of any fur-seal rookeries m the Northern 

 Hemisphere other than those on the several seal 

 islands of Bering Sea; and have never seen fur- jv. B. Miller, p. 372. 

 seals in great abundance save on and near the 

 Pribilof Islands. 



We have never seen fur-seal pups about this part of the coast, 

 and have no knowledge of any being born out 



side of the rookeries on the seal islands of Bering Metr y M< >nimetal., p. 226. 

 Sea. 



I believe that the cause the seals chose these islands for their home 

 is because of the isolation of these Pribilof Islands 

 and because the climatic condition of said Pribilof t. f. Morgan, p. 61. 

 Islands is particularly favorable to seal life. Dur- 

 ing the time the seals are upon land the weather is damp and cool, the 

 islands being continually enveloped in fogs, the average temperature 

 being about 41° F. during the summer. 



It is now well established that, outside of the Pribilof group, there 

 are no other islands or grounds in Northwest 

 America where the seals haul up for breeding pur- j no . m. Morton, p. 70. 

 poses. These islands are their natural and per- 

 manent home, without which they could not exist. They leave it only 

 when necessity demands and return to it as soon as the climatic con- 

 ditions make it possible for them to do so. Here they hud that protec- 

 tion and supervision indispensable to the reproduction of their kind 

 and the multiplication of their numbers. 



The Pribilof Islands, by reason of their isolated location, cool and 

 humid climate, rocky shores, and the fog which 

 prevails from early spring to late autumn, are S.B.Nettleton,p.ib. 

 peculiarly well fitted to be the home of the fur- 

 seal. 



The Alaskan fur-seal is a native of the Pribilof Islands, and, unless 

 prevented, will return to those islands every year 

 with the regularity of the seasons. All the pecu- j. c. Bedpath,p. 148. 

 liarities of nature that surround the Pribilof group 



of Islands, such as low and even temperature, fog, mist, and perpetu- 

 ally clouded sky, seem to indicate their fitness and adaptability as a 

 home for the Alaska fur-seal ; and with an instinct bordering on reason 

 they have selected these lonely and barren islands as the choicest spots 

 of earth upon which to assemble and dwell together during their six 

 months' stay on land ; and annually they journey across thousands of 

 miles of ocean, and pass hundreds of islands without pause or rest, 

 until they come to the place of their birth. And it is a well-established 

 fact that upon no other land in the world do th^ Alaskan fur-seal haul 

 out of water. 



The certainty that the seals caught in the North Pacific are in fact a 

 portion of the Pribilof herd, and that all are born 

 and reared for the first few months upon the is- c. M. Scammon, p. 475. 

 lands of that group, naturally leads the observer 

 to regard them as quite domesticated and belonging upon their island 

 home. The more orderly way to describe them, therefore, would be to 



