50 



THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



THE BACHELORS. 



The bachelor seals begin to arrive at about the same time as the balls. Their 

 first appearance about St. Paul is usually on Sivutch Eock. The average date of the 

 first recorded food drives is about the 20th of May.* This, however, is not the date 

 of their first arrival, but the one at which the animals are out in sufficient numbers to 

 make a drive worth while. 



The older bachelors come first. This is shown by the excess of older seals that 

 are turned back in the earlier drives, and the larger percentage of killed in the 

 number driven. This can best be made clear by citing the statistics showing the 

 animals rejected, large and small, and the average per cent of animals killed, for the 

 different dates during the season of 1897, on St. Paul Island: 



Statistics of killings, St. Paul, 1897. ' 



1 This record of rejected animals was, for the most part, kept by Mr. John M. Morton, whose duty as Treasury agent 

 required his presence constantly on the killing field. 



From this table it is apparent that among the rejected animals prior to July 9, 

 those too large for killing predominated. The large percentage of animals killed for 

 the total number driven shows that the greater proportion of the seals on the hauling 

 grounds at this time were of killable age. After July 9 the smaller seals began to 

 predominate, showing the advent of the 2-year olds and yearlings. About the same 

 relative number of animals were killed in the later drives, but owing to the increase 

 of little seals, the percentage steadily diminished from a maximum of 68 per cent to a 

 minimum of 15 per cent. 



THE BEGINNING OF THE SEALING SEASON. 



It is not until the 1st of June that the regular driving for the quota begins. At 

 this time the 3-year-old seals, from which the skins for the quota as a rule are taken, 



Log of St. Paul, Pt. II, May of auy season. 



