THE RUSSIAN FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 
109 
that rookery about 50 females to a bull, while at the northern end the harems appeared 
smaller, most of those counted containing 15 to l!5 females. A great many females 
were in the water that day, however; so in all probability the whole rookery averaged 
no less than 40 females to the bull. This proportion did not seem to be the result of 
or to have caused any lack of vigor in the males, for there was quite a nuudjer of large 
haJf-bulh skirting the rookery or hauled out on the outlying rocks, looking longingly 
toward the breeding-grounds. 
The greater falling off in this rookery was due to the decrease in the number of 
bachelors. But instead of affecting all classes this dindnution was chietly confined to 
the younger ones. Last summer all the skins were weighed individually on a spring 
balance as the killing went on, and air accurate tally kept. I submit below a table of 
weights of the skins taken in 13 drives between July 14 and September 13, 1895. From 
this it will be seen that no single skin under 7 pounds was taken, and of this weight 
oidy 235 skins; that in 4 drives not a skin under 8 pounds occurred; that in none of 
the drives was the average weight less than 9.7 pounds; that of 0,725 skins, 5,.558 
weighed 9 pounds and over; and that the average weight of these 0,725 skins was 
10.3 pounds. This table is also very interesting, showing how uniform Avas the size 
of the animals driven during the Avhole period of two months. Its true significance, 
however, can only be ajipreciated when it is remembered that the rookeries were 
scraped absolutely clean, and that not a seal was allowed to escape that would have 
yielded an acceptable skin. It can be stated with almost absolute (jcrtainty that there 
was not a bachelor seal on North Eookery, Bering Island, of the class yielding 
G-pound skins. 
Weight of skins taken in. 13 drives on North Eookerg, Bering Island, 1895. 
Date. 
7 Iba. 
8 lbs. 
9 lbs. 
10 lbs. 
11 lbs. 
12 lbs. 
13 lbs. 
14 lbs. 
15 lbs. 
Total. 
A ver- 
age. 
1895. 
July 1-1 
5 
90 
74 
61 
48 
53 
11 
4 
2 
No. 
318 
Founds. 
9.8 
19 
1 
70 
90 
237 
75 
GO 
8 
1 
0 
515 
10 
29 
0 
53 
110 
138 
211 
161 
50 
10 
0 
733 
10.7 
Aug. 2 
0 
12 
51 
140 
150 
110 
90 
0 
0 
616 
10.0 
4 
9 
35 
40 
27 
31 
50 
20 
5 
0 
217 
10. 3 
6 
0 
56 
107 
194 
211 
114 
103 
60 
0 
875 
10. 9 
8 
0 
10 
30 
60 
48 
11 
20 
10 
0 
189 
10.6 
12 
25 
100 
100 
80 
90 
36 
10 
61 
0 
532 
10.3 
22 
4 
85 
139 
215 
203 
179 
28 
52 
0 
905 
10.6 
21 
15 
10 
35 
28 
46 
38 
14 
16 
0 
232 
10.4 
31 
104 
211 
171 
62 
103 
120 
100 
9 
0 
880 
9.7 
Sept. 10 
50 
93 
80 
66 
85 
40 
35 
10 
0 
459 
9. 8 
13 
19 
47 
31 
20 
29 
16 
17 
12 
0 
194 
9. 8 
Total 
235 
932 
1, 061 
1,328 
1,360 
1,018 
536 
250 
2 
0, 725 
in. 3 
Though not literally absent, the yearlings were practically so. From the next 
table, which shows the number of each class of seals contained in the same 13 di’ives, 
it will be seen that out of 29,112 seals driven to the killing-grounds only 540 were 
yearlings, or 1.86 per cent. It was a constant source of wonder on Bering Island, in 
1895, what had become of the j^earlings. From time to time it was confidently 
icredicted that they would turn up “later,” but they did not come at all. There was 
a slight proportionate increase after the middle of August, but too trilling to amount 
to anything. And again I must emphasize tlie fact that the rookery was scraped 
clean in search of seals. This fact is startlingly disclosed by the following table, and 
because of its great importance it requires a full explanation. 
