FUR SEALS OF ALASKA. 31 
Mr. Fautxner. The older the bull and the more vigorous the bull 
of course the more able is he to get a position on a particular rookery, 
and he can contest successfully against the younger bulls and keep 
them away from his harem. It is ‘the age of the bull that enables him 
to hold the rookery against the young bull that is tr ying to capture it, 
it is not that when of the same age he was a stronger or superior bull, 
but that age has given him oreater strength and weight. 
Mr. Crarx. The one that is holding the rookery will be bowled out 
some other fellow gets big enough? 
. Fautxner. Of course he will. That is the reason why it is 
a sane in any manner to preserve the entire male life, the birth 
rate being equal. ‘The increase and growth of the herd are controlled 
by the number of females preserved for the harems in which one bull 
can serve from 15 to 150 females, and therefore the male full life is 
not essential to affect this object. 
Mr. Ciarx. There is no such thing as segregating a bull with his 
harem from the rest of them? 
Mr. Fautxner. They segregate themselves. 
‘Mr. Crarx. Suppose man undertook to interfere and breed these 
seals like we breed cattle. There is no machinery that could be 
devised to segregate Mr. Bull with his harem from the rest of them, 
is there? 
Mr. Fautxner. I would not like to go near them when they are on 
these rookeries from what I have read as to their habits and disposition. 
[Reading from report of Leonard Stejneger, p. 228:] 
That these considerations are not mere fanciful theories is plainly shown by our 
experience on the Pribilof Islands. As soon as the falling off in the catch of the bach- 
elors called attention to the decrease of the seal herd a halt was called; the killing on 
land was reduced toa minimum. The temporary officials were then under the same 
erroneous impression as the Russian authorities now, viz, that the calamity consisted 
in the decrease of bachelors, and they overlooked that it was the females, and they 
only, that needed being looked after. For several years only a fraction of the 
killable seals were allowed to be taken. What was the result? A single additional 
female on the rookeries? No; loss to the lessees and the Government of the bachelors 
spared; a corresponding gain to the pelagic sealers; a deplorable superabundance of 
bulls on the Pribilof rookeries, and numerous pups trampled to death soon after their 
birth. America has thus paid very dearly for her blunder. Are the Russians going 
to repeat it? 
It can now be asserted with certainty that a suspension of five years, or of one 
year, will retard the rehabilitation of the rookeries not only for so.many years as the 
suspension lasts but until the blunder be corrected by a wholesale killing off of the 
superfluous bulls resulting at the end of the suspension. 
He says there that the injury will be a continuous one after such a 
suspension until the Government shall go to work and kill off the sur- 
plus bulls which cause injury to the herd. 
Gentlemen, I have a number of references to authorities relating to 
the question which I have discussed, killing on land, the effect of the 
suspension of killing, which I do not feel that it is fair to the com- 
mittee that I should ask to read. 
The Cuarrman. You might hand those to the stenographer. 
ae FauLxNner. I will hand the references to the reporter. (See 
p. 33. 
Gentlemen, there are several scientists who are equal to any of the 
scientists or experts whose opinions we have discussed who have inves- 
tigated carefully, earnestly, and with the desire of obtaining all the 
information possible with a view to reform the regulations “provided 
for by the Paris award that are within reach of this committee, and I 
