After waiting four days for au opportunity to get on board the vessel, the Com- 

 missiouers were transferred to St. George Island by the revenue cutter Bear. On 

 October the count of St. George was made. Owing to the uncertainty of the 

 landing, Mr. Barrett-Hamilton, assisted by Treasury agent, Mr. James Judge, made 

 the count on East and Little East rookeries, while Mr. Clark and Mr. Macoun counted 

 Zapadni, Staraya Artil, and North rookeries. The same methods were employed as 

 at St. Paul. 



The following is the result in detail of the count on St. George, the result of the 

 count made in August being reproduced for purposes of comparison : 



St. George Ishitid. 



Eookery. 



August, 



1890. 



Dead pups. 



October 6, 1896. 



Total dead Starving 

 pups. : pups. 



North ■ 



Staraya Artil 



Zapadui 



East 



L ittle East 



Total 



259 



r« 



199 

 112 

 31 



145 



194 



527 



15 



16 



FOXKS ON ST. C.EORGE. 



The result of the count on St. George was a surprise and a disa]>i)oiutment. It was 

 found that the blue foxes, which are very numerous and bold, had eaten all the dead 

 pups. Only two whole carcasses were found on the island. It was necessary, there- 

 fore, to make the count from skulls, spinal columns, or skins. Very few of the pu])8 

 belonging to the tirst count remained and the remains of the lately eaten starved 

 pu])s were found scattered everywhere and chiefly away I'roui the ground occu])ied 

 by tlu' seals. East and Little East rookeries seemed to ha\e suffered the greatest 

 loss, and there tlic work of the foxes was most thoi'ough, probably l)e(ause these 

 rookeries, whii'h are not large, are tlie only ones on tbe eastern side of the island. 



A less number of ])ups were found in October on North, East, and Little East 

 rookeries than were (bund in August. This does not mean that no pups starved on 

 these rookeries, though it is i)08sil)le that these rookeries suffered less from i)elagic 

 sealing from their i>osition, faring the northeast. The exjdanation for tlio decrease 

 on East, Little East, and North rookeries, and tlie only slight increase on Zajjadni 

 and Staraya Artil, is that the foxes had reduced to loose bones all the pujis originally 

 counted and nearly all of the starved pups as well. About 25 foxes were counted in 

 and about the rookeries. There was no ])ractical difference between the condition 

 of the carcasses on Zapadni and Staraya Artil and those on the other rookeries. 



KSTIMATES FOII ST. GEORGE. 



The figures for St. George as they stand are not available for use or comparison. 

 It is necessary, however, to form some estimate for this island. No fairer basis seems 

 available than that of St. Paul. There it was found that the starved pups were 

 11.19 per cent of the total ])ups born. Applying this percentage to St. George we 

 have 2,259, including the 19 starving ones, as the proportionate number of starved 

 pups for this island, or a total of 16,(319 for the two islands. This is 55 per cent of the 

 reported number of skins obtained by pelagic sealers during the present season in 

 Bering Sea. lu addition to these nursing females the pelagic catcli of course includes 

 a certain percentage of those cows which lost their pups early in the season, and 

 also a certain percentage of 2-year-old cows without pups but impregnated. 



Not only will the rookeries next year and on succeeding years suffer from the loss 

 of the mothers of these pups, but through the death of the females, one-half of the 

 total number of starved pu])s, the evil effects of pelagic sealing wilL repeat them- 

 selves in 1899, when these jiups should retui'n to bear for the first time. The num- 

 ber of starved pups for 1895 and the preceding year must have been even greater. 

 Thus pelagic sealing eats away the herd, compound interest being taken with every 

 female lost. 



The pelagic catch of the present season has been light, 29,398 fur seals having 

 been taken in Bering Sea by 67 vessels, as against 43,697 in 1895 by 57 vessels, 



