156 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 
per cent of females. The following year Mr. Andrew Halkett, making a similar 
investigation for the Canadian government, found in the catch of the same vessel 
also in Bering Sea the percentage of females to be 84.' 
The difference between the results of these two investigations shows that the 
proportion of the sexes may vary considerably from season to season and between 
different vessels. It must not be forgotten, however, that these reports are based on 
the catches of individual vessels. The returns for the fleet of 18 American vessels in 
1895 gives the percentage of females as 73, while for the fleet of 13 vessels in 1896 it 
is 75 per cent. It is probably not possible to determine more definitely the exact 
proportion of females, but these figures are sufficient with the known preponderance 
of the female sex to show that the proportion is large. 
THE FEMALES MORE EASILY TAKEN. 
It may be noted that the habits of the animals are such as to make it probable 
that were the sexes equally numerous at sea the females would be taken in greater 
numbers. In the spring of the year off the Northwest Coast the female is heavy 
with young, and consequently more sluggish than the young males. In Bering Sea 
it is the mother driven by the necessity of nourishing her offspring that is found 
constantly on the feeding grounds. In either case her necessities and habits leave 
her the easy victim of the pelagic hunter. 
THE CAPTURE OF MALES NOT IMPORTANT. 
We have not taken into account the fact that a certain number of males are 
necessarily taken by the pelagic sealers. It is unnecessary todo so. With the males 
taken in this way we have no concern. Their capture decreases the profits of the 
lessees of the islands and the revenue of the Government, but does not affect the berd 
any more than does the killing of males on land. It is for this reason that they may 
be left out of consideration in this discussion. 
The important matter is that of the animals taken at sea by the pelagic sealers 
from 62 to 84 per cent are females. It may be remarked here that we are not con- 
cerned to make this percentage of females high. Were it a fact that among the 
animals taken at sea the males were in the excess of the females, the difference would 
be merely one of degree. So long as females in any number are taken, the herd is 
injured, and the injury is greater in proportion as the number killed is greater. 
POSSIBILITY OF EQUILIBRIUM UNDER PELAGIC SEALING. 
Much has been said of late by those interested in the retention of pelagic sealing 
about the tendency to equilibrium which is to be found in the rapid falling off of the 
pelagic catch. In 1896 Professor Thompson of the British Commission professed to 
believe that this equilibrium had then been reached, and that we might under present 
conditions hope for a perpetuation of the numbers of the herd as found in that year.” 
The investigation of 1897, showing a marked decrease from the condition of 1897, 
demonstrated clearly that this was a mistake, a fact which Professor Thompson 
admits in his 1897 report. 
'See Halkett MSS., Report 1896. 
?Thompson, Mission to Bering Sea, 1896, p. 35. 
