Taking Fast and Little Fast together. Colond Murr.iv counted (1-1 Au-us; . 

 17!) harems and .V. idle bulls.tli.it is to ~a\. about as i-.iany liar . .pa Inie and 



hut half as inanv idle bulls. His tiirmcs for give 105 hareOla 'tic 



K.ist _'.',) iMid (50 idle hull> (BMl !0, Little Ka-t 



(I may lien- venture lo say ir parcnthesiN that, \\hilc Colonel Mi, nuinenitiuii 



always seemed to r.< -arclul. I vat on tin.- urea-ion oftliisvi-.it particularly imprc-M-d 



by hi> punctilious accuiacy. While in cv-r\ CUM liis count nc.u-ly tallied u it'll inv o\\n. 



in c\cry M-c-tion of the ru,>kerv hi- led mine by a unit or t\\o, >ho\\ 



'ie had every hcie and there deteeted a harem which had (--.raped my eye.) 



In the follow in.: table ol stat i-t ir- Irom St. Maud, I have set -iile by si. a- the 



re-ults ot' this year \\it;i tho.-e of last. For th:~ :ave the count of ban-ins (and 



idle bulls) made by Colonel .Murray in company with Mr. I d inv-rll. The nun 



ol cows i- c-liiniited, tirst, on the !>a>i- of \~''^ cows to the a' ie bar. in- ; 



ndly, pin- the addition of 7~> per cent, deduced trom our count of pups on Kctavic, 

 mil elsewhere, which count, showed to that extent a larger number of pups than of cows 

 present at anyone time (riilr int'ni, pp. 9, KM. For l^'.lo we have, firstly, Colonel 

 Murray's similar count of bulls a nd of harems, which lie then made out to he over 



>ei cent, less numerous than last year; the OOWi lie i-timated at 40 to a harem, as 

 airain-i our extreme coi rected estimate of 30-2 (I7'3 X j 7 ,;"',,), nevertheless producing a 

 total. ".J per cent, below that accepted lor this year by the American Commissioners and 

 by ourselves. l.a-tly. we have for is*).") the rou^h estimate based on average of 

 ^b -si--. True and Townsciid, who place the number of cows at over 55 per cent, less than 

 the number admitted to exi-t this year; and the fact that, according; to these gentlemen, 

 the number ot' bulls \\as comparatively hi^h (only K) per cent, below our own), is not of 

 equal importance, for their estimate was based primarily on the cows, and the hulls were 

 not counted at all. 



STATISTICS for St. George Island, 1895- ( .i(i. 



I do not ill this case, nor in other similar cases in the sequel, quote my friends, 

 Messrs. True and Townsend, with the least int-ntiou of imputing inaccuracy to their 

 observations. On the contrary, I shall take pains to show in another place that we have 

 ample indication- ot the care and accnracv with which their estimate was made, according 

 to their opportunities and the knowledge current in their time. It i- Dr. Jordan's own 

 di-covery of the fact that no enumeration of cows, even ut the "height of the season," 

 come- within "." per cent, of the actual number appertaining to the rookery, that has 

 thrown a new light upon the question and shown us that such numerical c-timates as 

 those of Messrs. True and Townsend were utterly misleading, in spite of all their care and 

 truth and accuracy. 



I do not claim the right to draw from these discrepant figures any po-itivc evidence 

 of an actual increase of the herd on St. (! corse's Island between the seasons ot l^'.)."> ;:ml 

 1896, or at least any accurate measure of such an apparent, increase. But, on the other 

 hand, it is abundantly citar that we have no evidence at all to show a di during that 



period, and further that the state of the herd upon the island i- at Ica.st very much better 

 than it was believed to be on the authority of the American Agents of 1895. 



