REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 91 



on sliore tlie snmo day. Wlien questioned as to the classes of seals 

 seen fiutlier out, as, for instance, midway between St. Paul and St. 

 George Islands, tliey stattd that all kinds of seals might be found 

 there, but added again that the females usually do not go far from the 

 rookeries. 



Mr. N. Grebnitsky, Superintendent of the Commander Islands, stated, 

 as the result of his own personal observation and long experience, that 

 the females went out to sea while suckling the young, but not further 

 than half-a mile or a mile from the shore. Most of the natives, he 

 added, thought that the females did not feed during- this period, but in 

 this he believed them to be mistaken. 



M. Tillman, the Agent of the Kussian Government, in charge of Cop- 

 per Island, where he has been for two years, thinks that the females go 

 as much as 2 to 4 miles off shore to feed, but return to the rookeries 

 every night. 



M. Kluge, who has been for twenty-one years in the service of the 

 Alaska Commercial Company on several dift'erent islands, agreed in 

 this point with M. Tillman, and added that he knows from close per- 

 sonal observation, which he was able to make on Kobben Island, that 

 the females return every iHght, as stated. 



Snegilotf, the native foreman on Behring Island, thinks, on the con- 

 trary, that the females nniy leave their young for several days, and may 

 go as far as 10 miles from land to feed. 



313. So far as the facts actually observed in 1891 go, it is apparent 

 that there is always a considerable number of seals swimming, playing, 

 or sleeping at sea opposite each of the rookery grounds, and that these 

 in August consist largely of females, while in September great num- 

 bers of pups are to be found in addition. When extensive kelp beds 

 exist off the rookeiies, the nuiin body of seals is generally seen inside 

 the kelp, and at a distance of half a-mile or so from shore compara- 

 tively few seals are seen; while at two or three miles seaward from the 

 rookery there is no notable abundance of seals, and if sailing round 

 the breeding islands in a fog, at a distance of four miles from the shore, 

 it would be difficult for the closest observer (apart from other indica- 

 tions) to decide when he had passed abreast of a rookery. 



314. It is, however, certain, from statements obtained, that females 

 with milk are occasionally killed at sea by the pelagic sealers, and 

 though it is possible that these are mothers which have deserted the 

 islands in consequence of having been driven up to the killing grounds 

 with the holluschickie, or because of some other cause of disturbance, 

 such as the death of their young, it is highly probable that in the later 

 summer and autumn the distance to which the females go from the 

 breeding places becomes gradually increased. It is, nevertheless, 

 scarcely credible that, under any circumstances, the females engaged 

 in feeding their young can navigate to great distances from the islands 

 on erratic courses, and subsequently return punctually and without 

 fail to their rookeries; and any assumption made on this basis must be 

 regarded as requiring proof of a character very different to that so far 

 advanced by those holding such a belief. 



315. It may be added here, as the result of personal observations as 

 well as of those already published, that the seals tend to leave the 

 rookeries and hauling grounds for the sea in large numbers when 

 incommoded on shore bj^ too great heat or by heavy rain, and, further, 

 that after stormy weather, characterized by heavy wind and surf, there 

 is generally an increased and marked exodus from the shore. 



