EOOKEEY CONDITIONS. 221 



small seals on Copper Island, viz, the habit of skinning the head down to the mouth 

 instead of cutting off the ears. The restriction of the skinning to be done only by 

 experienced skinners, as practiced on the Pribilofs, certainly insures better work and 

 has probably something to do with the better price obtained for the Alaskan skins. 



CONDITION OF SEAL LIFE ON THE ROOKERIES. 



With regard to the comparative condition of the seal life on the rookeries of the 

 two groups, in so far as I was able to observe it during 1895 and 1896, it may be 

 broadly stated that the condition on Copper Island was quite similar to that of the 

 Pribilof rookeries, i. e., the breeding grounds were thin, the females being few and 

 scattered over the whole length of the rookery, with breaks and gaps in the line 

 here and there, and at the same time a detrimental superabundance of vigorous, 

 fighting bulls, which greatly interfered with the orderly progress of the rookery 

 business. The reason for this condition I have shown to be the pelagic sealing, but 

 on the Pribilof Islands the undesirable abundance of superfluous males is due 

 to the mistaken policy of limiting the number of male seals to be taken and the 

 liberty of the lessees to select only such sizes as. best suit their purpose. The same 

 result on Copper Island is caused by the utter inaccessibility of some of the hauling 

 grounds, which renders it impossible to kill the necessary number of males. The 

 remedy ou the Pribilofs is obvious, viz, the killing of a greater number of bachelors 

 without rejecting the larger, less desirable skins. On Copper Island it becomes 

 necessary, however, to reduce the superabundance of bulls by killing off a suitable 

 number of old ones, a remedy employed during 1896. 



Bering island, north rookery, on the other hand, presents quite a contrast to the 

 condition of the others. Here the reduction of the females (at least up to 1895) has 

 been comparatively insignificant. The breeding grounds have not diminished nearly to 

 the same extent as those on Copper Island and the Pribilofs, nor do the females appear 

 to have been thinned out" on the area occupied. As a result the proportion between 

 males and females is very different from what it is on the other islands, there being 

 much fewer bulls in proportion. No competent observer, however, has claimed that 

 there are not enough bulls on this rookery to properly fertilize the females. On the 

 contrary, I convinced myself that the condition of the rookery, so far as the number of 

 pups were concerned, was very good. The complaint of a lack of bulls on Bering 

 Island has an entirely different source. It is not because of dearth of bulls for breed- 

 ing purposes that the natives complain, but because there are no superfluous old bulls 

 to be killed for their hides. The natives on Bering Island are short of suitable skins 

 for long waterproof leg boots, or tarbassi, especially since the sea lions have nearly 

 all disappeared ; hence these tears. 



I have previously pointed out the cause of the better condition of the great Bering 

 Island rookery, viz, the fact that the seals breeding there have been less exposed to 

 the ravages of the pelagic sealers, their feeding grounds to the north and northwest 

 of Bering Island having become known much later than those of the Copper Island 

 seals, and even after their discovery less vigorously exploited. 



The Bering Island rookeries present another feature different from those on both 

 Copper Island and the Pribilofs. On these islands the bachelors alone are driven to 

 the killing grounds. Females occasionally get caught in these drives, partly because a 

 few sometimes haul out among the bachelors j partly, and especially on Copper Island, 



