102 THE ALASKAN SEAL HERD 



I uo not think the fur-seal herds of the Commander and Pribilof 

 Arthur Mvman,p.210. "lands ever get close enough to each other in 

 these latitudes to mingle. 



I am satisfied that the seal herds respectively upon the Pribilof 



group, the Commander Islands, and Robben Dank 



Gu&taveMebaum, p. 20&. have each their own distinctive fee ling grounds 



and peculiar rounds of migration. No doubt they 



are of the same species, but there is a marked difference in the fur of 



the skins from the respective places, which can be distinguished by 



experts. 



I hunt about Attn, Agattu, and the Semichi islands. Have never 

 hunted or killed a fur-seal. Fur-seals do not 



Eliah Prokopief, p. 215. regularly frequent these regions, and I have seen 

 none but a few scattering ones in twenty years. 

 Thirty years ago, when the Russians controlled these islands, I used to 

 see a few medium-sized fur-seals, one or two at a time in the summer, 

 generally in June, traveling to the northwest, and bound, I think, lor 

 the Commander Islands. The farthest east I have ever observed them 

 was about 30 miles east of the Semichi Islands; do not think those 

 going to the Commander Islands ever go farther east than that. Those 

 most seen in former times were generally feeding and sleeping about 

 the kelp patches between Attu and Agattu and the Semichi islands, 

 where the mackerel abounds. They decreased in numbers constantly, 

 and now are only seen on very rare occasions. Have seen but half a 

 dozen in the last twenty years; they were large seals, bulls, I judged 

 from their size, traveling to the northwest, about 30 miles east of the 

 Semichi Islands. This was in May, 1888. 



Have never seen any pups, black or gray, or nursing female fur-seals 

 in this region, and do not think they ever visit it. * * * 



Do not know where the old bull fur-seals spend the winter, nor what 

 route the fur seal herds take to and from the Commander and Pribilof 

 islands, nor at what times the herds pass to and fro. Am quite sure 

 the herds do not come near enough together to mingle in these regions. 

 Have never known of fur-seals being seen between Amchitka and a 

 point 30 miles east of the Semichi Islands. 



I never saw but one fur-seal in the water. It was a young male, 



which was killed in this bay in September of 



Filaret Prokopief, p. 216. i ^< 



C. A. Williams, p. 537. There is no intermingling of the herds. 



The fur-seal is only rarely seen about this region, scattering ones be- 

 ing seen occasionally during the months of Sep- 

 Pud ' Zaotchnoi, p. 213. teinber, October, and November, traveling from 

 the northward to the southward, through the 

 passes between Atka and Ainlia islands. Those seen are always gray 

 pups, and usually appear after a blow from the northeast. The most I 

 ever saw in any one year was about a dozen, but never more than two 

 or three at a time. I have met them in the passes while hunting in a 

 bidarka. I have never known them to rest on the shores or on patches 

 of floating kelp in this region. I have never seen large bulls or full- 

 grown fur-seals in this region. 



