470 RESULTS. 



1888 there was a less number than in 1887, or in 1889, owing, as I believe, 

 to a decrease of seals killed in Bering Sea that year; but in 1880 the 

 increase again showed itself. I believe the number of dead pups in- 

 creased in about the same ratio as the number of seals taken in Bering 

 Sea by pelagic sealers. 



Between 1874 and 1883 predatory vessels occasionally appeared in 

 Bering Sea, among them the Cygnet in 1874 and 



H. if. Mclntyre, p. 51. the San Diego in 1876, but the whole number of 

 seals destroyed by such vessels was small, and 

 had no appreciable effect upon the rookeries; in 1884 about 4,000 skins 

 were taken in Bering Sea by three vessels, and starved pups were 

 noticed upon the islands that year for the first time. In 1885 about 

 10,000 skins were taken in this sea, and the dead pups upon the rook- 

 eries became so numerous as to evoke comment from the natives and 

 others upon the islands. 



For instance, during the period of my residence on St. George Isl- 

 and, down to the year 1884, there were always a 

 Thos. F. Morgan, p. 64. number of dead pups, the number of which I can 

 not give exactly, as it varied from year to year 

 and was dependent upon accidents or the destructiveness of storms. 

 Young seals do not know how to swim from birth, nor do they learn 

 how for six weeks or two months after birth, and therefore are at the 

 mercy of the waves during stormy weather. But from the year 1884 

 down to the period when 1 left St. George Island there was a marked 

 increase in the number of dead pup seals, amounting, perhaps, to a 

 trebling of the numbers observed in former years, so that I would esti- 

 mate the number of dead pups in the year 1887 at about five or seven 

 thousand as a maximum. 



While on St. George Island there were practically no dead pups on 

 the rookeries. I do not think 1 saw during any 

 J. //. Moulton, p. 71. one season more than a dozen. On St. Paul Isl- 

 and I never saw any dead pups to amount to any- 

 thing until 1SS1, and then the number was quite noticeable. 



NUMBER OF DEAD PUPS IN 1891. 



Page 214 of The Case. 



One thing which attracted my attention was the immense number of 

 dead young seals; another was the presence of 

 J. C. S. Akerly, p. 95. quite a number of young seals on all the rookeries 

 in an emaciated and apparently very weak condi- 

 tion. I was requested by the Government agent to examine some of 

 the carcasses for the purpose of determining the cause or causes of 

 their death. I visited and walked over all the rookeries. On all dead 

 seals were to be found in immense numbers. Their number was more 

 apparent on those rookeries such as Tolstoii and Halfway Point, the 

 water sides of which were on smooth ground, and the eye could glance 

 over patches of ground hundreds of feet in extent which were thickly 

 strewn with carcasses. 



