18 FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA IN 1910. 



fewer in proportion to those killed, it must be concluded that this 

 condition is due not to closer killing, but to the absence, for some 

 reason, of those animals which are not killable and which when they 

 appear in drives make up the number of "rejected" seals. In other 

 words, the bachelors driven were not culled more closely for killables, 

 but fewer rejectable seals appeared hi the drives, thereby making the 

 rejection percentages smaller. 



One certain reason for this increased percentage of killed in 1910 

 is to be found in the lessened number of "branded" or marked 

 bachelors with which to deal during the killing. In previous years 

 2,000 of these marked bachelors were present during the killing season, 

 while in 1910 only 1,000 of them were marked. Furthermore this 

 missing thousand would have been composed of 2-year-olds which 

 haul up on the bachelors' hauling-grounds much more frequently 

 than do the 3-year-olds. With 1,000 2-year-olds marked for exemp- 

 tion from killing, it would have been certain that from 1,200 to 1,500 

 more rejections would have occurred during the season, the number 

 of rejections of this class varying somewhat from year to year. On 

 the other hand, rarely does the number of subsequent rejections of 

 the 3-year-olds equal the number of that class actually marked. 



Had 1,200 been added to the number of rejections obtained in 1910, 

 the percentage of killed would have been 69, very nearly what it was 

 in the year preceding. 



Another presumed cause of the lack of small rejections last year 

 is the probable fact that the smaller seals, i. e., those that had skins 

 under 5 pounds in weight, failed to haul up on land proportionately 

 in the same numbers as hitherto; that is to say, these small seals 

 remained for longer periods in the water than usual. In respect to 

 this matter we are met with the fact that we are wholly unable to 

 state anything definite concerning the hauling habits of young 

 bachelors. Some are always in the water and on inaccessible hauling 

 grounds, for which reasons no definite idea of the whole number in 

 existence can be obtained. Nevertheless, it is known that the haul- 

 ing habits of seals vary from year to year; that these habits are altered 

 by circumstances not incident to their natural environment, such as 

 the action and movement of the pelagic fleet; that these bachelors 

 haul in one year in greater numbers proportionately on one island 

 than the other, or on one rookery than on other rookeries ; that they 

 return to their normal habits with the disappearance of the cause 

 which forced them to abandon those habits temporarily. 



For 19 10 it can be shown that these small seals, which were yearlings 

 the preceding year, were not killed, either as pups or yearlings. Year- 

 lings are never killed on land except through unavoidable accident, 

 and an analysis of London sales of skins shows that yearlings form 

 but a small fraction of 1 per cent of the pelagic catch. Unless they 



