COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 213 



my eRh'iiiatoM sliriiilca^e on the breedinjT-Krounds -was, due to the work 

 of poachers, yot that woiihl not, conhl uot, exi>Jaiu to my niiiwl the 

 nine-fold greater sininkage of that su])2)ly from tlie hauling-grouuds 

 whieh unist exist, or else 60,000 young males might he easily taken, 

 judgijig from my notes of such work in 1872. 



Again, he writes: 



As riiatters stnnd to-day upon the Seal Islands the situation is very 

 much the same as it was iu 1834. Then it was expected that 20,000 

 seals would be taken, but only 12,000 were secured " with all possible 

 exertion." Tiiis year it was expected that 60,000 iine skins would be 

 taken, bnt only 21,000 have been secured Avith all ])ossible exertion, 

 nearly half of this catch being small, or 5|- lb. to 6^ lb. skins, raking 

 and scraping the rookery margins without a day's intermission from 

 the opening to the closing of the season; of this work in 1890 I give 

 you in this Rejiort the fullest detail of its progression, day to day, the 

 merciful ending of it, ordered so hapjjily by you. 



ESTIMATE IN REDUCTION IN NUMBER OF MALES. 



In conclusion, Mr. Elliott's estimates of numbers are 

 quoted, showing- in 1872-74 some 145,000 to 1(30,000 able- 

 bodied virile males or " bulls" over six years of age, with 

 a ])ro|iortion of barren or farrow cows too small to men- 

 tion; in 1890, 8,000 or 9,000 old males only — 



matni of ilievi ahsolniehj impotent at the heginnimj of the season of ISOO, 

 most of them hecomivg tvhoUy so as the season advavctd; 



with about 250.000 females vseals " not bearing- or woif ser^jet? 

 last year and this. " 



FURTHER STATEMENT BT MR. ELLIOTT. 



Mr. Elliott is, however, even more precise and defi- 

 24G nite on the subject here in question in a communica- 

 tion to " Forest and Stream. " He writes: 



At the close of the hreediug season of 1890 on the Pribyloff Islands, New Toil: 

 after the most careful and extended search, surveying every superfi- May 7, 1891. 

 cial foot of each one of the tiiveen difierent rookeries with cross bear- 

 ings from a great number of measured base lines, and giving close 

 attention to the relative number of "hulls" and "cowa." I foKiid on 

 tliesv islands oiili/ uliout 8,700 old bulls, many of them aged, iiifiyui, and 

 artiialh/ impotent; 640,000 females (nubiles, i)rinii])ares, mu]ti]iares, 

 and barren), and no young bulls around or near the breeding-grounds. 



In short, since 1885, no young ball seal has been allowed to lire and groto 

 after it reached the age of 4 years, if it were jyossihle to secure it; they 

 have all been regularly killed as thej'' grew up, and their skins sent 

 to London. Therefore these breeding rookeries, during the last six 

 years, have not been ])crmitted to receive the annual supplj'^ of fresh 

 male life, which was then, as it is now, absolutely necessary for their 



perpetuation and support in good forsn and number If, 



however, these young nuile seals that live to return next summer are 

 uot driven — are not disturbed by drivers on the islands — in four years' 

 time from date, quite a large number of them will have matured so as 

 to be al)le to take u]) stations cm the rookery-grounds that are to-day 

 vacant, and in the chai'ge of aged and impotent bulls, which state of 

 fiifairs, bad as it is, must get worse .and worse, until these young sires 



arrive on the field The normal ratio of males to femalen on 



the brccdiug-grounds of the Pribyloff Islands in 1873-74 ivas an average 

 of 1 male to 15 or 30 females. In 1890 this ratio (despite the deadly 

 work of the open water sealers among the females) was an average of 

 1 old male to every GO or 80 females. (I saw many single harems iu 

 whieh I counted over 100 cows.) .... In 1894 the lirst relief 

 that can possibly come to them will come, provided that handful of 

 young 2-year-old males left alive on the islands last summer is undis- 

 turbed by man there next summer aud thereafter, and in 1895 the 



