156 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



per cent of females. The following year Mr. Andrew Halkett, making a similar 

 investigation for the Canadian government, found in the catch of the same vessel 

 also in Bering Sea the percentage of females to be 84. ] 



The difference between the results of these two investigations shows that the 

 proportion of the sexes may vary considerably from season to season and between 

 different vessels. It must not be forgotten, however, that these reports are based on 

 the catches of individual vessels. The returns for the fleet of 18 American vessels in 

 1895 gives the percentage of females as 73, while for the fleet of 13 vessels in 1896 it 

 is 75 per cent, It is probably not possible to determine more definitely the exact 

 proportion of females, but these figures are sufficient with the known preponderance 

 of the female sex to show that the proportion is large. 



THE FEMALES MORE EASILY TAKEN. 



It may be noted that the habits of the animals are such as to make it probable 

 that were the sexes equally numerous at sea the females would be taken in greater 

 numbers. In the spring of the year off the Northwest Coast the female is heavy 

 with young, and consequently more sluggish than the young males. In Bering Sea 

 it is the mother driven by the necessity of nourishing her offspring that is found 

 constantly on the feeding grounds. In either case her necessities and habits leave 

 her the easy victim of the pelagic hunter. 



THE CAPTURE OF MALES NOT IMPORTANT. 



We have not taken into account the fact that a certain number of males are 

 necessarily taken by the pelagic sealers. It is unnecessary to do so. With the males 

 taken in this way we have no concern. Their capture decreases the profits of the 

 lessees of the islands and the revenue of the Government, but does not affect the herd 

 any more than does the killing of males on land. It is for this reason that they may 

 be left out of consideration in this discussion. 



The important matter is that of the animals taken at sea by the pelagic sealers 

 from 62 to 84 per cent are females. It may be remarked here that we are not con- 

 cerned to make this percentage of females high. Were it a fact that among the 

 animals taken at sea the males were in the excess of the females, the difference would 

 be merely one of degree. So long as females in any number are taken, the herd is 

 injured, and the injury is greater in proportion as the number killed is greater. 



POSSIBILITY OF EQUILIBRIUM UNDER PELAGIC SEALING. 



Much has been said of late by those interested in the retention of pelagic sealing 

 about the tendency to equilibrium which is to be found in the rapid falling off' of the 

 pelagic catch. In 1896 Professor Thompson of the British Commission professed to 

 believe that this equilibrium had then been reached, and that we might under present 

 conditions hope for a perpetuation of the numbers of the herd as found in that year. 2 

 The investigation of 1897, showing a marked decrease from the condition of 1897, 

 demonstrated clearly that this was a mistake, a fact which Professor Thompson 

 admits in his 1897 report. 



1 See Halkett MSS., Report 1896. 



2 Thompson, Mission to Bering Sea, 1896, p. 35. 





