REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 61 



(iii.) — Disiribuiion at Sea. 



209. Tlie distribution and mode of occiirrerice of the fur-seals at sea 

 wlieu congregated in their winter liabitats on the two sides of tlie 

 North Pacific, and while migrating, have ah-eady been noticed. While 

 the information on these points is not as complete as could be wished, 

 it is sufficient to show in a general way how the fur-seal is affected in 

 its movements by currents, drift, and winds. In speaking of its food 

 and feeding habits on a subsequent page, it further becomes apparent 

 in what manner the seals congregate and travel in following certain 

 food fishes. It appears to be rather in consequence of sucti circum- 

 stances, operating conjointly upon these pelagic animals, than to any 

 ruling gregarious tendencies while at sea that they become collected 

 into "schools" or groui)s of greater or less dimensions. This at least 

 is the result of the examinations made during the summer of 1891 in 

 Behring Sea, where, though two or three seals were often seen actually 

 in company, and occasionally as many as six or eight, the general rule 

 seemed to be that each seal was pursuing its own course, travelling, 

 sleeping, feeding, or sporting in the water, without reference to others 

 in the vicinity. This is clearly shown by the observation that even 

 when passing through an area at sen in which the seals would be noted 

 as abundant, they are as a matter of fact usually separated by distances 

 mnch too great to enable any single animal, or any group of two or 

 three individuals, to be in any w^ay cognizant of the presence of the 

 next adjacent individual or similar group. Apart from seals met with 

 near the shores of the breeding islands, the densest " school " found by 

 us was on one occasion about five miles to the westward of the laud of 

 St. Paul Island, where about forty seals were counted in a distance run 

 of two miles. In all other cases, it was exceptional to meet with seals 

 to the number of four to a mile run, while two to a mile run was much 

 above the average even when passing through areas of abundance. It 

 is thus evident that the seals had been brought together in such areas 

 of abundance by reason of common conditions rather than by their 

 own volition. 



210. In order to arrive at as complete a knowledge as possible of the 

 actual distribution of the fur-seal in Behring Sea, a circular was pre- 

 ])ared, in which it was requested that regular seal logs should be kept 

 on the British cruizers, and, through the kindness of the Commander- 

 in chief on the Pacific Station, communicated to their Commanders. 

 The work was taken up with enthusiasm by the various ofiicers, and 

 maintained throughout the season. Careful observations of the same 

 kind were also made on our own steamer, the "Danube," and subse- 

 quently, through the courtesy of the United States' Commissioners, 

 copies of the track-charts, and observations made of seals by the vari- 

 ous United States' cruizers, were supplied. Information on the same 

 subject was also sought in various other ways, such as by inquiry from 

 the captains and hands of sealing-vessels met in Victoria and Van- 

 couver, and from the inhabitants of various places touched at during 

 the summer. 



211. Little or nothing has previously been put on record with regard 

 to the distribution of the fnr-seal in Behring Sea during the months of 

 their stay there, for thongh the pelagic sealers had formed their own 

 opinion as to the best regions for carrying on their avocation, they natu- 

 rally did not make these public, and it is believed that, in some cases at 



least, they were rather inclined to keep such knowledge as they 

 35 had gained by experience entirely private. What has been actu- 

 ally published on this subject depends principally upon meagre 



