ESTIMATED NUMBER OF BREEDING SEALS. 223 



too full of rocks and reefs to a close enough approach, even if all the seals could be 

 seen from the boat, which they can not. 



When inspecting the Karabelni and Glinka rookeries in 1896 I paid special 

 attention to this point, coming, as I did, from the census of the Pribilof herd. At 

 Karabelni it may be possible to get at a fairly good approximation of the number of 

 breeding seals in Bolshaya Bukata, but beyond that it is impracticable. At Glinka 

 it may also be possible to ascertain the numbers in Gavarushkaya, Sikatchinskaya, 

 and Zapalata, bxit in most other places the probable error will make an attempt at 

 counting completely illusory. 



As on the Pribilofs, a few attempts have also been made on the Commander 

 Islands to present figures claiming to represent the number of seals on the rookeries, 

 but the bases for such estimates have been even more unreliable than on the Pribilofs. 

 In the early days it was enough to suppose that inasmuch as the annual yield of skins 

 was about one-half that of the American islands, the total number must also be about 

 one-half; and as, say, 6,000,000 had been given in print as the grand total for the 

 latter, 3,000,000 seals must make their home on the Commander Islands. Of late 

 years the senior overseers at the rookeries have been encouraged to present estimates 

 or counts, but the results, sometimes quite grotesque in their minuteness of detail, are 

 utterly valueless as having no foundations in any tangible facts. 



Having carefully gone over the figures of the census of the Pribilof Islands, 

 certainly the nearest approximation to the actual number of seals on any rookeries 

 ever accomplished, and comparing the extent of the Commander Islands rookeries 

 and their condition with those of the Pribilofs as I know them from several years of 

 close inspection, I have endeavored to make as close a guess of the number of seals 

 breeding on the Commanders as I am able to, since there seems to be a desire that I 

 should make such an attempt. At the same time I will state that I do so reluctantly 

 and with the express reservation that I myself regard the approximation as only 

 remote. I wish to apply to this effort Mr. True's words (Eep. Cond. Seal life Pribil., 

 1893-1895, pt. II, p. 107) to the effect that "the chief use of such calculations in the 

 present connection is, in my opinion, for the elimination of fanciful estimates of the 

 number of seals. Thus, a statement that there are a million or half a million seals 

 on the islands may safely be disregarded, as may equally any claim that there are 

 but a few thousand remaining." 



Estimated number of breeding seals on Commander Islands, 1896. 



Bering Island : 



North rookery 30,000 



South rookery ^1%0,800 



Copper Island : 



Karabelni lO-OOO 



Glinka — 



UriW 5.000 



Zapadni 3,000 



SahatohaDira 700 



Palata 6,000 



Zapalata 4.000 



Sikatchinskaya 3, 000 



Gavarushkaya 2,500 



Commander Islands, total 65, 000 



