18963 Rookery Surveys 



his drawings very spirited, so that the total had a 

 distinct value for subsequent investigations. But First esti- 

 his estimate as to numbers (based on the space "'^^^/'^^o 

 occupied by the rookery as a whole, divided by the 

 number of square feet assumed to be covered by 

 one individual) I always thought far too high — 

 an opinion recently verified by the measurements 

 of G. Dallas Hanna, now curator of Invertebrate 

 Paleontology in the California Academy of Sciences. 

 In 1 891, in preparation for the Paris Tribunal of 

 1893, Mr. Elliott made a second trip to Alaska. 

 From this he returned with a bitter animus against 

 the North American Commercial Company (which 

 as lessee of the islands had succeeded the Alaska 

 Commercial Company) and with the strong ob- 

 session that the killing of superfluous males was a 

 determining factor in the enormous deterioration 

 which the herd had suffered since his previous visit. 

 On the other hand, the several trained and compe- Land km- 

 tent observers^ sent successively to Bering Sea '"^."^ 



. . . , males 



from 1890 to 1895, agreemg m every particular, 

 demonstrated that the elimination of superfluous 

 males had no greater effect on the breeding seal 

 herd than on a herd of cattle or a flock of sheep, 

 and furthermore reported that the sole cause of 

 destruction lay in pelagic sealing. 



At the time of my appointment I was notified that two of .1^' 

 the ablest naturalists of the United States National Museum, associates 

 Leonhard Stejneger (mentioned in eadier pages) and Frederic 

 A. Lucas, would be commissioned as my associates; also that 

 the U.S.S. Albatross under Jefferson Moser of the Navy, and 

 with Charles H. Townsend as naturalist, had been assigned 



' C. Hart Merriam and Thomas C. Mendenhall, then Barton W. Y,\vv- 

 mann, and (later) Frederick W. True and Charles H. Townsend — all to the 

 Pribilofs; and Leonhard Stejneger to the Commander group. 



c 551 : 



