THE MAKING OF A FUR-SEAL CENSUS wi 
trates the operation of counting and the 
following is a record of the pods as run 
off: 
152, 108, 146, 54, 128, 152, 116, 40, 152, 68, 
200, 78, 96, 150, 234, 192, 44, 52, 56, 122, 144, 
23, 83, 110, 66, 150, 232, 98, 10, 102, 120, 53, 
119, 106, 118, 14, 56, 62, 58, 88, 91, 68, 21, 61, 
42, 110, 67, 72, 68, 88, 90, 66, 48, 20, 61, 58, 88, 
50, 80, 168, 14, 68, 37, 68, 116, 82, 68, 33, 128, 41, 
44, 15, 25, 54, 134, 243, 54, 90, 42; 116, 75, 120, 
100, 57, 36, 17, 116, 44, 36, 50, 79, 88, 68, 115, 69, 
118, 153, 122, 56, 33, 55, 48, 70, 124; 174, 63, 180, 
146, 14, 73, 146, 84, 173, 235, 129, 52, 25, 26, 63, 
102. .Total, 10,576. 
It was by this process of counting, 
applied day by day to the rookeries in 
1912, that the first full count of fur-seal 
pups was made, the number being 
81,984. A repetition of the process in 
1913 gave a total of 92,269. The differ- 
ence, approximately twelve and one- 
half per cent, marks the rate of increase 
in the herd between the two seascns, 
the first seasons for thirty-five years in 
which the fur-seal herd was free from the 
drain of pelagic sealing [suspended by 
treaty of July 7, 1911], with its destruc- 
tion of mother seals and their young. 
These three elements—the adult 
males, the adult females, and the young 
of the season — constitute the important 
features of the fur-seal census. They 
were thus fixed by actual count. 
There remain certain other animals 
in the herd which cannot be counted. 
These are the two and_ one-year-old 
females and the young males of four 
years and under. They come and go 
irregularly, some of them spending very 
little time on land. The annual rate of 
increase in the herd, established by the 
counts of 1912 and 1913, enables us to 
estimate very closely the number of 
young three-year-old females on which 
it depends. The sexes are subject to 
hike vicissitudes and from the approxi- 
mately equal birthrate of the sexes a 
like number of three-year-old males 
The two- 
year animals can be closely judged from 
these, and the yearlings, from births of 
the preceding year, diminished by the 
losses which experience shows the ani- 
mals to suffer in the first migration. 
Putting these various estimates to- 
gether and uniting them the 
counted animals we have the following 
may be assumed to survive. 
with 
total for the fur-seal herd in the season 
of 1913: 
Breeding males 1,403 
Reserve males 2,364 
Breeding females Po tor ar ee HO 209 
Young of the season 92,269 
Three-year-old males 10,000 
Two-year-olds . 30,000 
Yearlings 40,000 
Total . 268,305 
This census affords to the government 
as accurate a knowledge of the status 
of its fur-seal herd as, for example, the 
average cattleman has of the animals 
on his range. 
The herd will now grow steadily in 
the future and in due time as many 
animals may be expected in the herd as 
it formerly showed, between two and 
three millions. With this growth, count- 
ing of all the pups cannot long be con- 
tinued. The task will become too great. 
It can however, be continued on certain 
limited areas and the balance of the 
herd judged by these. Certain valuable 
averages have been obtained — for the 
individual rookeries, for each of the 
islands, and for the herd as a whole. 
It will always be possible to get a rea- 
sonably accurate count of the breeding 
families. To this the known averages 
of harem sizes in 1912 and 1913 can be 
applied with a result sufficiently exact 
for all practical purposes. 
