22 



KSTIMATE8 FHOM QUOTA OF BACHELORS. 



Perhaps the best basis for an estimate of the total decline of the rookeries since 

 1880 is lound in tlie simple fact tliat in 1883 it was as easy to get 100,000 acceptable 

 skins of Ihc sizes now taken as it -was this year to get 25,000, or 30,000 at the most. 

 This wonld indicate that the nnmber of breeding females was at least fonr times as 

 great in 1880 as in 1893. This is probably not very far from the truth, although but 

 little dependence can be ]daced on it. The last killings were tlien usually over by 

 the 2()th of .July.* The last killing for 1896 to complete the quota of 30,000 was 

 made on .July 27. 



PROrilECY. 



Prophecy as to the future is even more uncertain than estimates of the past. If a 

 count of i)ui)s should be made on Kitovi rookery about August 1.5, 1897, tiie variation 

 in numbers from 6,0-19 will serve as a fair index to the change in the number of breed- 

 ing cows. It is most important that an accurate count should be made of this rookery 

 each year in the future. The percentage of change on both islands will not vary far 

 from that found on Kitovi. The reopening of Beriug Sea to pelagic sealing in 1894 

 ought in 1897 to show itself in a reduction of the number of 3-year-ol(l breeding 

 cows and in the number of killalde males on all the rookeries. This loss diffused 

 over the wlicde islands will not, however, be very conspicuous on any one rookery. 

 Great as the waste through ])elagic sealing has been, it is to be remembered that the 

 islands still contain a vast body of seals. To the eye .5,000 seals scattered among 

 the rocks seem almo. t as many as 10,000. There is still a strong nucleus of the 

 Pribilof herd left, and this will take care of itself when no longer wasted by the 

 slaughter of gravid and nursing cows. Protection at sea would in a com])aratively 

 few years restore the herd to its highest condition. Nor need it find in the numbers 

 of 1880 its highest limit of expansion. The rookeries can be improveil and extended 

 by artificial means. The trampling of pups by bulls could be greatly checked, or 

 even almost eliminated, by ])iling rocks in the deathtraps. < >n Zapadni Kookery, 

 of St. Paul, a beginning was made this fall by filling in with loose stones tlie beds of 

 the two gullies which furnished such a large proportion of the <lea(l pups of this 

 rookery. Instructions have been given to have the sand flat of Tolstoi covered witli 

 rocks. This is by far tlio worst of the death traps. Tolstoi is white with bones of 

 trampled pups, accumulated for centuries. There is no evident reason, no females 

 being killed, why the hauling grounds should not furnish even 200,000 killable males 

 each year. 



ESTIMATE.S OF PAST CONDITIONS. 



If there are on the Pribilof Islands 143,071 breeding females, or a total number of 

 about 440,000 of seals of all grades, there may have l)een in 189.5. 155,000 breeding 

 seals, or a total of 475,000. In 1890 possibly 280,000 breeding females, or a total of 

 600,000, the percentage of voung males being in that year unusually low, and in 1880, 

 600,000 breeding females, 1,500,000 of all grades collectively. 



In our judgment these estimates have very little value, but no better ones are 

 possible. It is certain, however, that the seal herd w;is never "ten times'' nor 

 seven times its present size. 



VIII. BREEDING HABITS OF THE FUR SEAL. 



ALL COME TO THE ISLANDS. 



So far as known, every individual fur seal visits the islands in the course of the 

 summer. The youngest come latest, and in general all categories remain until driven 

 away by the winter storuis in November. 



THE BULL. 



The male fur seal is capable of procreation, in some cases at least, at the age of 

 three years, lie is not, however, permitted by his seniors to take charge of a harem 

 in the height of the season until he is about seven years old. The adult males arrive 

 on the islands as soon as the ice leaves in the spring (in April or early May). They 



* The log book of the island gives the following dates for the completion of the 

 quota: 1871, .lulv 28; 1872, .July 25; 1873, .July 24; 1874, .Inly 17; 1875, July 22; 

 1876, August 2; 1877, .luly 14; 1878, .July 18; 1879, .July IB; 1880, .Inly 17; 1881, .Inly 

 20; 1882, July 20; 188S, .inly 19; 1881, .Inly 21; 1885. .Inly 27; 1886, Julv 26; 1887, 

 July 24; 1888, July 27; 1889, July 31; 1S9.5,' July 27; 1896, Julv 27. 



