50 SEAL LIFE ON THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



fat and sleek and glossy as possible; but after a four months 7 residence 

 on land, where he never tastes food or drink, he becomes so poor and 

 gaunt and weak that it is with the utmost difficulty he crawls oft' into 

 the sea when he leaves, late in August or early in September, to take 

 his annual journey through Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean. 

 By September lf> the bulls have disappeared, and by the middle of 

 October the largest of the young males have lol lowed them. 



Early in November the cows begin to leave, and if the weather turns 

 unusually cold or rough they do not delay their departure. 



The pups leave about the middle of November, and the yearlings, 

 male and female, leave early in December. 



In exceptionally fine weather it is common to see a few seals in the 

 waters around the islands all winter, and in rare instances they have 

 been taken on shore as late as January; but the great herd follows a 

 well-defined and (at present) well-known path through the Bering Sea 

 and the North Pacific Ocean south and east from the seal islands to 

 the coast of California, nearly opposite Gape St. Lucas, and return 

 along the American coast and the Aleutian Islands to Bering Sea. 



The following very accurate description of the fur seal and its pecul- 

 iarities is taken from the report of the United States Bering Sea 

 Commissioners : 



1. The northern fur seal ((Jalloi-hinutt urninus) is an inhabitant of Bering Sea and the 

 Sea of Okhotsk, where it breeds on rocky islands. Only four breeding colonies are 

 known, namely, (1) on the Pribilof Islands, belonging to the United States; (2) on 

 the Commander Islands, belonging to Kussia; (3) on Kobbeu Reef, belonging to Rus- 

 sia; and (4) on the Kurile Islands, belonging to Japan. The 1'ribilof and Commander 

 Islands are iu Bering Sea; Robben Reef is in the Sea of Okhotsk, near the island of 

 Saghalien, and the Kurile Islands are between Ve/o and Kamchatka. The species is 

 not known to breed in any other part of the world. The fur seals of Lobos Island 

 and the south seas, and also those of the Galapagos Islands and the islands off Lower 

 California, belong to widely different species, and are placed iu different genera from 

 the northern fur seal. 



2. In winter the fur seals migrate into the North Pacific Ocean. The herds from 

 the Commander Islands, Robben Reef, and the Kurile Islands move south along the 

 Japan coast, while the herd belonging to the Pribilof Islands leaves Bering Sea by 

 the eastern passes of the Aleutian chain. 



3. The fur seals of the Pribilof Islands do not mix with those of the Commander 

 and Kurile islands at any time of the year. In summer the two herds remain 

 entirely distinct, separated by a water interval of several hundred miles; and in 

 their winter migrations those from the Pribilof Islands follow the American coast 

 in a southeasterly direction, while those from the Commander and Kurile islands fol- 

 low the Siberian and Japan coasts in a southwesterly direction, the two herds being 

 separated in winter by a water interval of several thousand miles. 



This regularity iu the movements of the different herds is in obedience to tire well- 

 known law that migratory animals follow definite routes in migration, and return 

 year after year to the same places to breed. Were it not for this law there would 

 be no such thing as stability of species, for interbreeding and existence under diverse 

 physiographic conditions would destroy all specific characters. ' 



The pelage of the Pribilof fur seals differs so markedly from that of the Commander 

 Islands fur seals that the two are readily distinguished by experts, and have very 

 different values, the former commanding much higher prices than the latter at the 

 regular London sales. 



4. The old breeding males of the Pribilof herd are not known to range much south 

 of the Aleutian Islands, but the females and young appear along the American coast 

 as far south as northern California. Returning, the herds of females move uorth- 



1 The home of a species is the area over which it breeds. It is well known to nat- 

 uralists that migratory animals, whether mammals, birds, fishes, or members of 

 other groups, leave their homes for a part of the year because the climatic conditions 

 or the food supply become unsuited to their needs; and that wherever the home of a 

 species is so situated as to provide a suitable climate and food supply throughout the 

 year such species do not migrate. This is the explanation of the fact that the north- 

 ern fur seals are migrants, while the fur seals of tropical anil warm temperate lati- 

 tudes do not migrate. 



