252 THE PUE SEALS OF THE PEIBILOF ISLANDS. 



frequented by fur seals, made such records important, and a large number of them 

 have recently been gathered together. 



These records, based on actual captures of hundreds of thousands of seals at all 

 seasons of the year throughout the fur-seals range, include at the present time the 

 log books of 123 different vessels sealing at various times during a period extending 

 over fourteen years. 



It appears from a study of the records of the sealing fleet that the American 

 herd, as a body, follows the continental outlines in its lingering northward migration. 

 As the seals do not leave the summer habitat until November, and make their first 

 coastwise appearance far to the southward in December and January, there is good 

 reason for supposing that the southward movement is well offshore and very rapid. 



From the limited references in the log-book records to the difl'erent classes ot 

 seals taken on each of the American hunting grounds, the indications are that the 

 adult females migrate farthest — to the Santa Barbara Islands — the younger classes 

 reaching the coast a little farther to the northward — on the Vancouver ground — 

 while the adult males are seldom taken south of the Fairweather ground. The 

 schooner Penelope, in a catch of 215 seals taken south of San Francisco in 1896, 

 reported only 8 males. A catch of 1,266 seals made in 1897 south of San Francisco 

 by the schooners Uppinger and Louisa D. contained only 72 males. Young seals 6 or 

 7 months old appear in large numbers along the coasts of Oregon and Washington. 

 Yearlings of both sexes are reported to linger in small bands far offshore in June and 

 July, but sealers do not spend much time in hunting them, as their market value is 

 small. 



On the Japan coast there appears to be a larger proportion of medium-sized 

 males among the adult females than on any other Pacific hunting ground. 



In Bering Sea, as is well known, the adult females taken by the sealing fleet 

 outnumber all other classes of seals combined. 



The latitude and longitude of the daily sealing operations of all these vessels 

 have been platted on the accompanying map, and, each month's sealing being 

 indicated distinctively, the map may be considered as representing our present 

 knowledge of the seasonal movement of the American and Asiatic seaf herds,' as well 

 as outlining the hunting grounds of the pelagic sealing fleet. 



List of the log-hooh records used in the preparation of the map showing the migration and distribution of the 



fur seal. 



Seals. 

 All United States official data (Asiatic and Ameiican coasts), 1894 to 1897, statistical tables, 



fur-seal catch, Treasury Department g5 935 



Canadian official data (award area only), 1894 to 1897, department of marine and flsheries, 



Ottawa _ 142,009 



Canadian official data (Asiatic, in part), 1893, department of marine and flsheries, Ottawa ... 21, 055 

 Miscellaneous Canadian and United States data (Senate Doc. 157, Part II, pp. 50-55) 1883 to 



1893 21,877 



Miscellaneous Canadian data (Fur-Seal Arbitration, vol. 8, pp. 816-843), 1892 15 875 



Miscellaneous Canadian and United States data (unpublished; collected by C. H. Townsend) 



1886 to 1896 _' 14 828 



Miscellaneous Japanese data (unpublished; collected by L. Stejneger), 1894 to 1897 3 084 



Total 304, 713 



