20 



Lastly, let me take Mr. Elliot's categorical statements regarding the condition of the 

 rookeries in 1890 (Cf. cit., p. 91). 



1. There is but one breeding bull now upon the rookery-ground where there were 

 fifteen in 1872 ; and the bulls of to-duy are nearly all old, and many positively impotent. 



2. This decrease of virile male life on the breeding-grounds causes the normal ratio of 

 fifteen or twenty female to a male, as in 1872-74, to reach the unnatural ratio of fifty to 

 even 100 females to an old and enfeebled male. 



3. There is no appreciable number of young males left alive to-day on these 

 "hauling" or non-breeding grounds to take their place on the breeding-grounds, which 

 are old enough for that purpose, or will he old enough, if not disturbed by man, even if 

 left alone for the next five years. 



Not one of these statements (I am not discussing the first clause) is true to-day. 

 The bulls show no signs of senility or impotence ; they are not " inert and somnolent," as 

 Mr. Elliot said two pages before. But they are in the highest degree active, vigorous, and 

 bellicose. Every rookery is surrounded by "idle" bulls, most of them to all appearance 

 as robust and virile and full-grown as their more fortunate brethren ; s.nd from every drive 

 are turned away a large proportion of younger ones to take their places in time. 



There is no " unnatural ratio " of fifty to 100 females to "an old and enfeebled male." 

 The harems show an average of about seventeen females to a male, and though we may 

 have to add to these some 75 per cent, more (a circumstance of which Elliot knew 

 nothing) to allow for the greater number appertaining to the rookery than are ever visible 

 at once, yet, if we add at the same time the number of bulls at first idle on the rookery, 

 we shall get a ratio between cows and bulls that compares favourably with Mr. Elliot's 

 description of the most prosperous period in the history of the herd. 



Mortality of Pups. 



In this important matter the labours of the past season have added very materially to 

 our knowledge. 



On the 1st August, the date of the opening of Behring Sea to pelagic sealing, a 

 plump healthy pup was captured and placed in a box in the open air, in order to ascertain 

 the period of death by starvation. The experiment was a necessarily cruel one, and was 

 performed with great reluctance, but the importance of the inquiry was held to justify it. 

 "When captured, the pup weighed 12 Ib; it died on the 15th August, its weight being then 

 reduced to 9 Ib. 



From the very beginning of our .inspection we saw daily, as we watched from the 

 verge of the rookeries, a dead pup here and there, and now and then one was drawn out 

 by the aid of a long pole and submitted to dissection. By the 1st August, dead pups were 

 -conspicuous wherever we went. 



Until near the end of the first week in August it was impossible to enter the rookeries, 

 and no more systematic investigation could be made. On the 5th August a regular pro- 

 gress was made through the rookeries, and the dead pups were systematically counted 

 under Dr. Jordan's leadership. The count was completed for St. Paul Island on the 

 12th August, and on the 16th and 17th August, a similar count was made on the Island 

 of St. George by Mr. Lucas, Mr. Macoun, and Colonel Murray. The following are the 

 resulting numbers of dead pups for each rookery on the two islands : 



Total 



10,309 



