102 EEPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 



(M.) — Methods of enumerating Seals on the Frihyloff Islands and Esti- 

 mates of Numbers. 



357. The number of seals frequenting tlie Pribyloff Islands at differ- 

 ent dates is of course a fact of fundamental imi^ortance, and every 

 attention has thus been given to the methods employed in making esti- 

 mates of number and to the results arrived at. Unfortunately for pur- 

 poses of comparison, these have been made for the past twenty years 

 at irregular intervals, on entirely different methods, and by quite dif- 

 ferent persons, excepting in the one case of Mr. Elliott, who made 

 elaborate observations on the spot both in 1872-74, and in 1S90, the 

 latter being of special value for purposes of comparison with the con- 

 ditions in 1891. 



358. The first actual estimate of the total numbers of seals resorting 

 to the Pribyloh" Islands appears to have been that made by Bryant in 

 18G9. Bryant states that he discovered that there were no open places 

 on the rookeries, that they began to fill at the water-line, and extended 

 no further back than the breeding seals could occupy in a compact 

 body. He then estimated the number to a square rod, and, presum- 

 ably, by finding the number of square rods contained in the rookery 

 grounds, found the total number of breeding seals to be 1,130,000. He 

 next proceeded to estimate the non-breeding seals and the young of 

 the year, and states his belief that there were on the island [sic] not 

 less than 3,230,000.* If intended for both islands, as by the context it 

 appears to be, this estimate is i^robably a reasonably fair one, made at 

 least to the best of the writer's ability, though, as he does not state the 

 number assumed to the square rod, we are without any exact means of 

 checking it. 



359. In his report, based on observations in 1872-74, Mr. Elliott claims 

 the credit for the "discovery" that the seals collected on the rookeries 

 in a uniform number to the square rod, and, with even greater candour 

 than the last writer, puts us in possession of his unit of computation. 

 This is very simple, for he merely allows two square feet to each breed- 

 ing seal on the rookery ground, divides the whole number of square 

 feet considered as rookery ground by two, and calls this the number of 

 breeding seals. His discussion of the subject is somewhat lengthy, 

 but he sums up his conclusions as follows: "Taking all these points 

 into consideration, . . . I quite safely calculate upon an average of 

 two square feet to every animal, big and little, on the breeding grounds, 

 as the initial point upon which to base an intelligent computation of 

 the entire number of seals before us." t Working upon this basis, he 

 makes the number of breeding seals on the islands, in 1872-74, 3,193,420, 

 and, adding an estimate for the uon breeding seals, raises the grand 

 total to 4,700,000.t 



360. Lieutenant Maynard, in his Eeport written in 1874, states that 

 the seals freouenting the Pribyloff Islands " have been variously esti- 

 mated at from 1,000,000 to 15,000,000." He thinks Mr. Elliott's method 

 of estimation to be the most accurate, but, by adding a larger number 

 of non-breeding seals, raises the grand total, as relating to the year 

 1872, to about 0,000,000.§ 



361. Fourteen years after Mr. Elliott's estimate, Mr. G. R. Tingle, in 

 1887, expresses the belief that the area of rookery grounds had increased, 

 and, employing Elliott's method of computation, arrived at the figures 



* "Monograph of North American Pinnipeds," p. 389. 



t United States Census Report, p. 50. 



X Ibid., pp. 61 and 62. 



$ House of Representatives, Ex. Doc. No. 43, 44th Congress, Ist Session, p. 5. 



