REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 67 



able influence on the movements of the seal in a subordinate degree, 

 and particularly upon its abundance or otlierwise at various times in 

 dilterent parts of its summer and .winter habitats. Some of the last 

 observations qnoted have a direct bearing on this point. 



225. Most of the information gained on this subject is the result of 

 special inquiries made among the native hunters of different parts of 

 the coast, and of (piestions addressed to the pelagic sealers. The 

 knowledge procured by these people is obtained in various ways. Seals 

 are often seen at sea actually pursuing fish of dilferent kinds, or com- 

 ing to the surface with a fish hekl in the jaws. Tlie stomachs of seals 

 killed at sea are frequently well filled with fish, and are, from motives 

 of curiosity sometimes examined. It is also often noticed tliat a seal, 

 when taken into a canoe, vomits the entire contents of the stomach. 

 Another, and, thongli less direct, scarcely less trustworthy source of 

 information, is the locally-observed coincidence in abundance of seals 

 with that of certain kinds of fish. 



226. Without quoting at length the numerous statements obtained 

 on this point, it may be said that the general tenour of the evidence 

 shows, that while the fur-seal has been known to eat almost all kinds of 

 fish, including cod and even halibut, its fsivourite diet consists of small 

 fish, of which the herring, probably from its size and from its gregarious 

 habit, is altogether the most inqjortant. The appearance of seals 

 toward spring in the inner waters along the coast of British Columbia, 

 and the numbers seen there at any particular ])lace or time, bear a very 

 close relation to the occurrence of shoals of herring, while some of the 

 most notable cases of the penetration of seals into the narrow channels 



about the estuary of the Nass, Skeena, and Knight's Inlet have 

 39 been directly traced to their pursnit of the ulachan, or candle- 

 fish, then resorting to these places to spawn. 



227. Another animal, which may be classed as a special food of the 

 fur-seal, is the squid or cuttle-fish. Evidence of this has been obtained 

 at various points along the British Columbian coast and in the Com- 

 mander Islands, and of the seal stomachs opened by us on the Priby- 

 loff Islands, besides a very few fish-bones the beaks of sqnid were about 

 the only traces of food found. It is perhaps further worth noting in 

 this connection, that Captain Morrell many years ago stated, with 

 special reference to the fur-seal of the Falkland Islands, that they are 

 said to live on the squid.* 



228. It is particularly along the British Columbian coast, within the 

 winter habitat of the fur-seal, that the connection of its movements 

 with those of the herring has been traced. Unfortunately, little is 

 accurately known about the migratory habits of the herring in any part 

 of the world, and the information respecting the migrations of this fish 

 on the West Coast is exceedingly imperfect. It is probable that here, 

 as elsewhere, the migrations of the herring are somewhat capricious, 

 and that this fish regularly approaches the shores in large schools only 

 about the spawning season, while its movements at other times are 

 largely governed by the relative abundance on different parts of the 

 surface of the ocean of the minute crustaceans and other pelagic organ- 

 isms upon which it lives. This, again, depends on the winds and cur- 

 rents and temperature, and to the interaction of these several factors, 

 the sudden appearance or disappearance of bodies of fur-seals, in 

 various parts of their winter habitat particularly, may doubtless be 

 traced. 



*Dall, "Alaska and its Resources," p. 492. 



