FUR SEALS AND OTHER LIFE, PRIBILOF ISLANDS, 1914. 



29 



back and forth with some frequency between St. Paul and St. George Islands, the whole 

 number hauled at a given time can only be determined by simultaneous observations 

 on all the hauling grounds. The party on the islands in 1914 was large enough for such 

 observations and accordingly they were made on St. Paul on July 28. A count on 

 St. George Island was made a few days later by G. D. Hanna. The half bulls of 5 and 

 6 years were distinguished from the remainder, which consisted of 2, 3, and 4 year olds. 

 No yearlings were seen, although it is possible a very small number may have been 

 present. The results of the so-called " one-day" count are as follows: 



Bachelors on land at one lime. 



" Counted by B. W. Harmon and A. G. Whitney. 



b Estimated from distant view but supported by better observations at other times. 



« Counted by G. H. Parker and T. Kitahara. 



<* Counted by W. H. Osgood. E. A. Preble, and J. M. Macoun. 



« Counted by W. H. Osgood and E. A. Preble. 



/ Counted by G. D. Hanna. 



THE COUNT OF PUPS. 



Importance of the count. — Since 1897, when it was discovered that the number of 

 pups greatly exceeds the number of cows on land at any one time, the importance of an 

 enumeration of the pups has been apparent. Unlike the other classes of seals, all the 

 pups for a time are on land at once, and the only obstacle in the way of exact knowl- 

 edge of their number is that of actual enumeration. Until the abolition of pelagic 

 sealing, however, a complete count of pups was not attempted, since it involved driving 

 the cows into the sea and exposing them to the sealing fleet. In 1912 and 1913, with 

 this danger past, complete counts of pups were made. The results of these counts 

 were of the utmost importance, for they not only gave a measure of the new generation 

 in the herd, but also furnished an accurate index of the number of breeding cows, since 

 each cow gives birth annually to one pup. In 1914, therefore, another complete count 

 of pups was made. 



97867°— vol 34—16 3 



