62 ALASKA FISHERIES AND FUR INDUSTRIES IN 1915. 
Of the total number of birds in the vicinity of Craig observed to be feeding on the 
herring or eggs, the following are the estimated percentages of the various species: 
SpPEcIES oF BirpDs PREYING ON HERRING. 
Percentage 
Species. of each Species. 
species. 
Ducks: Gulls—Continued. 
Surf Scooter’... oo... = 5 = = serene mtase 15 Bonaparte’s gulle once. nc -.sc0- 
White-winged scooter. .........--- 15 Miscellaneous’. ).. cscumensecciec ccs 
Oldisquaw:cj.c 2 =< -2\s-0</4eeeecree 5 
MaincellANGOUS Soo sh i. seecideee eee 5 ° 
40 || Shore birds and others...............- 
ulls: Tata este gee eaaeneedc cee 
Glaucous-winged gull........-...-. 30 
At Sitka the bird life was much the same except that the relative numbers were 
somewhat different, the gulls being in still greater majority. Such large flocks weré 
not to be seen here owing to their being scattered over a much greater area, cover- 
ing many miles of coastline and intervening waters. Stomachs of seven birds taken 
here were in practically the same state of engorgement as those taken at Craig and 
contained about the same class of food material in much the same proportion. 
An actual count of the herring eggs contained in the stomach of one unidentified 
species of gull, probably a glaucous winged, gave the surprising number of 5,378 eggs 
remaining in such a state of preservation as to be easily distinguishable. This stomach 
was not a fair sample as it was not filled nearly as full.as were most of those taken. The 
average stomach contained at least twice this number of eggs and many held fully 
three to four timesasmany, There is no doubt but that a single gull, or other bird of 
similar size, when feeding on herring spawn will consume at least 10,000 eggs at a single 
meal. Birds digest their food so rapidly and the herring eggs are so readily digested 
that the quantities consumed are almost incredible. It is probable that in some cases 
not less than 50,000 eggs are: consumed in a single day by individual birds, as they eat 
almost continuously during the daylight hours. 
At Fish Egg Island and vicinity about 50 per cent of the eggs are above water at low 
tide, and of those exposed I have good reason to believe from my observations that not 
more than 5 per cent escape destruction by the birds. Of those below water a consid- 
erable number are taken by the ducks, grebes, loons, cormorants, and others not con- 
fined to operations on the surface. 
From the time the fish approach the surface at the outer coasts, all during their 
stay in the inland waters, and until they return to the open ocean they are at no time 
free from the attacks of these voracious enemies. 
It seems desirable to reduce losses from the natural enemies, that man may profit 
by what is saved from them. To best accomplish this, the most effective and practi- 
cal remedy that occurs to the writer is to remove completely all protection from the 
birds that do the damage, save that their nesting sanctuaries might be retained; and 
at the time of spawning place one or two men well supplied with guns and ammunition 
to shoot and frighten away the birds from these areas. At such a spawning ground 
as.at Craig it would not be difficult or expensive to protect the eggs quite fully by this 
means from the ravages of the birds for the few days they are exposed to their depreda- 
tions before hatching. In such a region as Sitka and vicinity it would be slightly 
more difficult and expensive, but not prohibitively so, for the herring in that region 
do not spawn simultaneously at widely scattered points. 
The white man’s most direct and needless destruction of the herring is the seining 
of them on their spawning grounds and vicinity when spawning or about to spawn. 
