112 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 



The reason of this was that the natives were anxious to begiu the autumnal catch as 

 early as possible, in order to get fresh meat, which they had been obliged to be without 

 since the end of tlie killing season. Thus I find in the records of Bering island station 

 ibr 1878 that on October 13 it was contemplated to take a drive iu order to get fresh 

 meat. The " chief wished first to ascertain how skins looked at present, supposing 

 they were too stagy yet," and accordingly went himself to the rookery, whence on the 

 16th he returned with 9 skins, reporting that " fur was good." The drive was 

 therefore made and 520 seals taken on October 18.i 



The explanation of the fact that nowadays many phenomena appear to happen 

 later is easy enough. During the years of plenty very little attention was paid to 

 them except in the most general way. Such a thing as detailed observations and 

 records throughout the season for a number of years sufiflcieut to furnish exact data for 

 reliable deductions were (and, as a rule, are yet) unknown. This is particularly true 

 of phenomena happening after the finishing of the catch. But now, in the days of 

 threatened commercial extinction, when the rookeries and the seals are under constant 

 and anxious inspection, many things appear unusual and new. The killing season being 

 extended in order to fill the required complement of skins, the impression easily takes 

 hold that the phenomena particularly noticed during the thus belated season are 

 themselves likewise belated. 



FEEDING GROUNDS OF COMMANDER ISLANDS SEALS. 



It was formerly held by those who had anything to do with the Eussian fur seals 

 that the females only went a comparatively short distance from tbe islands to feed. 

 This assumption was based upon no observed fact whatsoever, and was only a general 

 expression of the total ignorance of the true location of these feeding grounds. 



When the Canadian sealing fleet, in 1892, in a body resorted to the Commander 

 Islands, after having been excluded from the eastern portion of Bering Sea, an inkling 

 of the truth was felt, and undoubtedly to some extent intiuenced those who were 

 responsible lor the 30-mile zone fixed in the Eussian-British modus vivendi of 1893. 

 But it was not until the logs of the more successful schooners had been published and 

 tlieir positions at noon every day, with numbers of seals taken during the i)ast 24 hours 

 plotted on the charts, that the true status of affairs was made clear. It was then 

 manifest that the bulk of the catch was taken on a comparatively limited area south 

 of Copper Island, approximately bounded by 52° 30' and 54° 30' north latitude, and by 

 165° and 170° east longitude. The richest hauls, however, were made within a much 

 more restricted area south and south-southwest, and on the line between this area 

 and the rookeries of that island, A.s a matter of fact, the overwhelming majority of 

 the skins were taken more than 30 miles distant from the island, and most of the 

 skins that were taken closer in were seemed by those of the schooners that found 

 it more tempting to raid the rookeries from a safe distance. The time of the season 

 during which the fleet operated that year was chiefly during the months of July and 

 August. There is, therefore, not the slightest doubt about the correctness of regarding 

 the area as above limited as the feeding grounds of the seals frequenting the Copper 

 Island breeding grounds (pi. 1). 



1 The difference from the Pribilof Islands will be noted, as in the latter the natlros were allowed 

 to take seals for food in the stagy season. (See, for instance. Fur Seal Arb., v, pp. 714, 715.) 



