INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 



In the following pages we have grouped together the natural history facts of the 

 fur seals as they have been observed during the past two seasons by the members of 

 the commission and as they are recorded in the log of St. Paul Island. 



During the past twenty seven years it has been the custom of the agents in 

 charge of the fur seal islands to set down in a daily log or journal a record of current 

 happenings and of their observations upon the seals. Mingled with a vast amount 

 of irrelevant matter are many facts which throw light on the past condition of the 

 herd. These facts have been extracted and are here presented in condensed form. 



From the voluminous record of St. Paul Island, consisting of some 2,500 closely 

 written pages, the results are exceedingly meager. It is apparently by accident 

 rather than by intention that the record has any value. As illustrative of its 

 unsatisfactory nature we may cite the fact that the results of rookery inspections 

 are regularly recorded in such phrases as these: " In a healthy condition," the "usual 

 number of breeding seals present,'' "more" or "less" (as the case might be) ''seals 

 than in the preceding year," etc. The record in the latter case may have been kept 

 by another person, or may contain no definite data at all. 



The aim throughout has been to keep a record of the first arrival of the seals, 

 but the record is a blank so far as their breeding habits are concerned. For the close 

 of the season there are in many cases data fixing more or less definitely the departure of 

 the seals. But here for the most part the record indicates that seals were present at 

 a certain date, and we are left to guess when they actually disappeared. About all 

 important matters there is this exasperating vagueness and uncertainty. 



We probably have no right to complain of this record. The agents were doubt- 

 less not specially charged with this sort of work. They had no special training for it 

 and its importance was not realized. But we may be pardoned for pointing out the 

 fact that these men allowed to go to waste a most excellent opportunity to serve the 

 interests of the Government. Had the record in the log of St. Paul Island been filled 

 with the results of systematic observations of the rookeries, stated with some degree 

 of mathematical exactness, it would to-day be a mine of valuable information regard- 

 ing the past condition of the herd. The record of one year would have served as a 

 guide to the next, and if this course had failed to bring an earlier recognition of the 

 true condition of the herd, the record would at least enable us to-day to replace theory 

 with positive proof in many matters of importance. 



We call attention to this matter at the present time chiefly because it enforces 

 what we have already had to say regarding the need of constant and systematic study 

 of the fur-seal herd. From the time the fur-seal herd came into the possession of the 



254 



