THE RUSSIAN FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 



109 



that rookery about 50 females to a bull, while at the northern end the harems appeared 

 smaller, most of those coiruted containing 15 to 25 females. A great many females 

 were in the water that day, however; so in all probability the whole rookery averaged 

 no less than 40 females to the bull. This propoition did not seem to be the result of 

 or to have caused any lack of vigor in the nmles, for there was quite a number of large 

 lialfbuUs skirting the rookery or hauled out on the outlying rocks, looking longingly 

 toward the breeding-grounds. 



The greater falling oft' in this rookery was due to the decrease in the number of 

 hiichclors. But instead of affecting all classes this diminution was chieHy confined to 

 the younger ones. Last summer all the skins were weighed individually on a spring 

 balance as the killing went on, and an accurate tally kept. I submit below a table of 

 weights of the skins taken in 13 drives Ijetween July 14 and September 13, 1S05. From 

 this it will be seen that no single skin under 7 pounds was taken, and of this weight 

 only 235 skins; that in 4 drives not a skin under 8 pounds occurred; that in none of 

 the drives was the average weight less than it. 7 pounds; that of 6,725 skins, 5,558 

 weighed 9 pounds and over; and that the average weight of these 6,725 skins was 

 10.3 pounds. This table is al.so very interesting, showing how uniform was the size 

 of the animals driven during the whole period of two mouths. Its true significance, 

 however, can only be appreciated when it is remembered that the rookeries were 

 scraped absolutely clean, and that not a seal was allowed to escape that would have 

 yielded an acceptable skin. It can be stated with almost absolute certainty that there 

 was not a bachelor seal on j^orth Rookery, Bering Island, of the class yielding 

 6-i)ound skins. 



Weight of skins taken in 13 drires on North Eookery, Bei-ing Island, 1S95. 



Though not literally absent, the yearlings were practically so. From the next 

 table, which shows the number of each class of seals contained in the same 13 drives, 

 it will be seen that out of 29,112 seals driven to the killing-grounds only 540 were 

 yearlings, or 1.86 per cent. It was a constant source of wonder on Bering Island, in 

 1895, what had become of the yearlings. From time to time it was conrtdently 

 ])re(licted that they would turn up "later," but they did not come at all. There was 

 a slight proportionate increase after the middle of August, but too trifling to amount 

 to anything. And again I must emphasize the fact that the rookery was scraped 

 clean in search of seals. This fact is startlingly disclosed by the following table, and 

 because of its great importance it requires a full explanation. 



