98 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 
From this census we have therefore a total of 4,418 breeding bulls and 129,216 
breeding cows for the season of 1897. Each of these cows bore a pup during the 
season. There were therefore a total of 262,850 “‘breeding seals and young” at one 
time or another on the rookeries of the Pribilof Islands during the past season. 
Thus far our census of the fur seals can lay claim to accuracy, but it does not 
cover all classes of animals, and when we attempt to extend it beyond the breeding 
herd to include idle bulls, bachelors, and yearling and 2-year-old females, we must 
leave facts and begin to theorize. 
THE ENUMERATION OF NONBREEDING SEALS. 
During the season of 18 6 a rough approximation was made of the class of males 
kuown as idle bulls. The number found in close proximity to the breeding grounds 
was estimated at about 3,000. No attempt was made to include animals located on 
various sand beaches and such hauling grounds as those of Sivutch Rock, Zapadni 
Head, Lagoon, etc. The enumeration of this class of bulls was therefore only partial 
at best. On certain rookeries where they were counted last year, counts were made 
this year for comparison, but beyond this nothing was done or could be done. Onlya 
general estimate of idle bulls can therefore be given, but the number would seem to 
be not far from 5,000, or in round numbers, a number equal to those occupied. 
IDLE AND HALF BULLS. 
In addition to these idle bulls the hauling grounds and the water front were full 
of young half bulls, 5 and 6 years of age, which had not yet even attempted to secure 
places on the rookeries. From the killing grounds during the present season 8,000 of 
these animals were turned back from the drives. As some of the young bulls may 
have been driven two, three, and even four times from the same hauling ground, this 
number can not be taken at its face value. But in corners of many of the hauling 
grounds, in the runways on the Reef and in the various ravines on Zapadni, large 
numbers of these animals were not disturbed at all, while the water front of all the 
rookeries was lined with them. A fair estimate of the young bulls would not fall 
far short of 10,000. This class represents chiefly the natural reserve which has 
accumulated from the escape of the animals of killable age since 1893. The idle buils 
as a class and the oldest of the half bulls are the aftermath of the modus vivendi. 
THE BACHELORS. 
But these animals are not numerous and their record is not important. It is 
concerning the bachelors below killable age and the cows below breeding age that we 
ought to have exact information, but can not get it. It is impossible to count the 
yearling and 2-year-old bachelors. They do uot arrive at the islands until late in 
the season. They occupy their hauling grounds very irregularly, coming and going 
from the water according to pleasure and the state of the weather. 
REJECTED SEALS. 
From the killing grounds during the present season 15,000 animals too small to 
kill were turned back. As in case of the young bulls, some of these, perhaps many, 
were driven and redriven; several drives being made from each hauling ground 
