FUR-SEAL SERVICE. 97 



pelagic sealing was carried on, and when thousands of pups which 

 had died of starvation were observed, it is easy to believe that the 

 herd will rapidly increase now that the great cause of its depletion 

 has been removed. 



CENSUS OF THE FUR-SEAL HERD. 



In the season of 1912 it was possible for the first time in the his- 

 tory of the fur-seal herd to take a complete census of the various 

 classes of seals present on the islands. This work was done by Mr. 

 George A. Clark who, as secretary of the fur-seal commissions of 

 1896 and 1897, made the partial enumerations and estimates of 

 those years, and who made also the approximate enumeration of 

 1909. Again, Mr. Clark spent the summer of 1912 upon the Pribilof 

 Islands, devoting his entire time to a study of the fur-seal herd. 

 The details of his work are set forth at length in his official report. 



The census of the herd, as taken by Mr. Clark, shows seals of the 

 various classes present as follows: 



Active bulls, with harems (actual count) 1, 358 



Idle and young bulls (actual count) 312 



Hauling ground bulls (actual count) 302 



Brand ed reserve males (actual count) 2, 000 



Pups (actual count) 81, 984 



Breeding cows (equal in number to the pups) 81, 984 



Remaining nonbreeding seals (estimate) 48, 000 



Total 215, 940 



It is important to note that an actual count was made of all the 

 active bulls, all the idle and young bulls, all the hauling ground bulls, 

 all the 3-year-old males marked and reserved for breeders, and all 

 the pups. And, as the number of breeding cows is the same as the 

 number of pups, their number also was definitely determined. The 

 only classes not actually counted or whose number was not defi- 

 nitely determined by the count of other classes were the yearling 

 males, the yearling females, the 2-year-old males, the 2-year-old 

 females, the 3-year-old males that were not branded, and an indefi- 

 nite number of 4-year-old males. These were estimated at 48,000, 

 which is probably an underestimate. 



The seals embraced in the estimate of 48,000 nonbreeding seals 

 include all the yearlings (both males and females), all the 2-year-olds 

 (both males and females), all the 3-year-old males (excepting the 

 2,000 branded for reservation), of which there was a great number, 

 as shown by the rejections in the drives. These classes, as shown 

 by the counts and estimates of 1911 (which the more careful census 

 of 1912 showed to be under rather than over the actual number), 

 totaled 66,265. Deducting from this number 3,764 (the number 



