330 REPORTS OF BERING SEA COMMISSION. 



Length of time 22. Duriiio- the iiortliward mieration, as has 



of migration. ^ ^ ' 



been stated, the last of the body or herd of fur- 

 seals leave the North Pacific and enter Bering- 

 Sea in the latter part of June. A few scattered 

 individuals, however, are seen during the sum- 

 mer at various points along the Northwest Coast; 

 these are probably seals that were so badly 

 wounded by pelagic sealers that they could not 

 travel with the rest of the herd to the Pribilof 

 A cci dental Islands. It has been alles^ed that young- fur- 



Lutlis on coast. '^ ./ o 



seals have been found in early cummer on 

 several occasions along the coasts of British 

 Columbia and southeastern Alaska. While no 

 authentic case of the kind has come to our 

 notice, it would be expected from the large num- 

 ber of cows that are wounded each winter and 

 spring along these coasts and are thereby ren- 

 dered unable to reach the breeding rookeries 

 and must perforce give birth to their young — 

 perhaps prematurely — wherever they may be at 

 the time. 

 rHMiof"' Islands 23. The reason the Northern fur-seal inhabits 

 the fi^-selir ""^the Pribilof Islands to the exclusion of all other 

 islands and coasts is that it here finds the climatic 

 and physical conditions necessary to its life 

 wants. This species requires a uniformly low 

 temperature and overcast sky and a foggy 



