THE NORTHERN FUR SEAL.[209]--The habits and life history of this animal are probably more accurately known than those of any other of the Eared Seals. Fully a hundred and twenty years ago Steller, a naturalist in the employ of the Russian Government, spent a season in Kamstchatka and the islands in the neighbourhood of Behring Strait. During his sojourn he carefully studied the habits and anatomy of an animal termed by him Sea Bear, which existed in innumerable quantities in the region in question, publishing the results of his observations in the “Transactions” of the St. Petersburg Academy. A missionary, Krasheninikoff by name, some years later, under the title of Sea Cat, also gave an account of the same animal, but possibly deriving his information from the preceding writer. For a long period little was added to their narratives. In 1868 the Russian Government ceded to the United States the territory of Alaska, including several of the Aleutian Islands, and among others the Pribyloff group. These latter are remarkable and important, inasmuch as they are the resort of literally myriads of Seals, some of which are exceedingly valuable for their fur. A Captain Pribyloff had discovered the small island which bears his name in 1786, and thereafter a Russian company established themselves, carrying on an extensive trade in skins and oils up to the date of cession. The Russian Bishop Veniaminov, in 1840, gave an account of the Seals of the Pribyloff group, containing a statistical table of their probable numbers and evident decrease unless measures were taken to prevent their wholesale extermination. The American Government wisely appointed agents, the result being reports by Captain C. Bryant and Mr. H. W. Elliott, which contained wonderfully graphic histories and descriptions of this Fur Seal and others of the group. To these gentlemen’s reports we are chiefly indebted, and do not hesitate to abstract without stint. The “Kautickie” is the name given by the Russians to this Fur Seal. It repairs to the Pribyloff Islands to breed in almost fabulous numbers, between the beginning of May and the middle of September, some few stragglers occasionally remaining even to the close of December; but between the beginning of June and end of September, they remain on the islands in grand force. The haunts of these creatures during the winter season, after leaving the islands, are doubtful; but it is supposed that they take up quarters by a southward migration to the Pacific coasts of the United States. At all events, it is known that in the stomachs of the voracious Killer-Whales and Sharks the remains of these and other species of Seal are not unfrequently obtained by the whalers in the region in question; and likewise the Indians of the North-west American coast, as low as California, then capture them in numbers.