118 HABITS OF THE ALASKAN SEAL. 



Feeding exciir- one hundred miles, nsually sixty miles.-^ And 



Bious. _ '' 



Capt. William Cox, master of the schooner 

 Sapphire, places the principal hunting ground at 

 one hundred miles from the islands of St. George 

 and St. Paul.^ Capt. L. G. Shepard, of the United 

 States Revenue Marine, who seized several ves- 

 sels while sealing in Bering Sea in 1887 and 

 1889, states: ''I have seen the milk come from 

 the carcasses of dead females lying on the decks 

 of sealing vessels which were more than a hun- 

 dred miles from the Pribilof Islands." He further 

 adds that he has seen seals in the water over one 

 hundred and fifty miles from the islands during 

 the summer.^ * The course of sealing- vessels and 

 their daily catch show also that the majority of 

 the seals taken in Bering" Sea are secured at over 

 one hundred miles from the Pribilof Islands.^ 



The distance that the seals wander from the 

 islands during the summer in their search for 

 food is clearly shown by the "Seal Chart "com- 

 piled from the observations of the American 

 cruisers during their cruises in Bering Sea in 

 July, August, and September, 1891.^ 



1 Britisli Blue Book, U. S. No. 3 (1892), C-G635, p. 173. 



« lUd. p. 191. 



3 L. G. Shepard, Vol. II, p. 189. 



* Logs of sealing vessels seized, Vol. I, p. 525. 



* "Seal Chart" in portfolio of maps and charts. 



