170 MIGRATION OF THE HERD. 



January, February, and March of the years 1S90 and 1 SOI I was running 

 on regular passenger trips from here to Puget Sound. I frequently saw- 

 both seals and hunters. I think the seals commence to leave the coast 

 working their way north in March and April. Two years ago this 

 spring, within 20 or 30 miles off Gape Flattery, west of the coast of Van- 

 couver I sighted one trip five or six sealing schooners. 



The seals generally appear in the Bering Sea about the latter part of 



April. I think, however, their arrival depends a 



M. C. ErsMne, p. 422. great deal upon the season. The large bachelor 



seals and the old bulls are the first to enter the 



sea about April or May, and the cows generally commence to arrive 



and are seen by thousands in the middle of June. 



This seal herd is migratory, leaving the islands in the fall or early 

 winter and returning again the following spring; 



Saml. Falconer, p. 164. and it is my opinion that the adult males, called 



" bulls," return as near as they are able to the same 



place on the same rookery year after year. In fact the natives pointed 



out to me one old bull who had returned to the same rock for five years 



successively. 



During June and the first part of July the females and pups go 

 through the Passes, and, entering Bering Sea, again seek the islands. 

 During their second summer the young seals herd together, the females 

 not going upon the breeding grounds. Again in the fall they leave 

 their home on the approach of cold weather and make the second mi- 

 gration south. After this migration the females, now "two-year-olds" 

 or " virgin cows," go on the breeding rookeries, and the young males 

 on the hauling grounds. 



I have observed while engaged in hunting sea-otter, that fur-seals 



first appear off this part of the coast in the vi- 



VassiH Feodor, p. 230. cinity of Cape Elizabeth, about the middle of the 



month of April, and are most numerous about the 



middle of June. They move across the mouth of the inlet from the 



eastward to the westward in schools. 



Wm. Foster, p. 220. The seals appear off Cooks Inlet about May 1st. 



They appear off Unga about the 1st of June. 



I always hunted seals in Dixon s Entrance, and off Prince of Wales 

 and Queen Charlotte islands in March and June. 

 Frank, p. 294. r^ geal ^i sa pp ear i n j une towards the north. 



There are seal in Dixon s Entrance in March, but the wind blows so 



hard that it is imposible for us to hunt them in 



Luke Frank, p. 294. canoes. Have always hunted in Dixons Entrance 



and off Prince of Wales Island during the month 



of May and June each year. The seal all disappear about the first of 



June, going north. 



Q. When does sealing commence in the Pacific, and when does it 

 end 1 ? — A. Sealing commences in the Pacific about 

 Luther T. Franklin, p. the }j e owning of February and ends about the 

 ^°- 1st of May. 



Q. When does sealing commence in the Bering Sea and what date 



