34 
FUR-SEAL FISHERIES OF ALASKA, 1909. 
fleet gathered, was plainly noticeable. This year the fleet gathered 
mainly off Southwest Point, and as a result no large drives were made 
from the Reef, as was the case in the two years preceding, while as many 
bachelors were found at Northeast Point as at any other rookery. 
This situation in 1909 is more a return to normal than a change, but 
indicates that seals can be influenced in hauling by conditions extrane- 
ous to their normal environment. 
The cause of the fact that the increase in bulls on St. Paul occurred 
only on smaller rookeries excepting one, might lie in the fact that on 
the smaller rookeries the young bulls had a better opportunity of 
lodgment close to the cows than on the larger ones, where the average 
harem was smaller. 
COUNTS OF PUPS AND AVERAGE HAREM. 
Counts of pups were made last summer on several rookeries with 
the object of determining whether or not the breeding females have 
diminished, as well as the size of the average harem, by means of 
which estimates of the whole number of breeding cows on the two 
islands might be made. 
St. Paul Island . — Counts of pups were made upon certain rookeries 
on St. Paul in 1909 and are detailed in the following table: 
Counts of Pups on Rookeries of St. Paul Island, 1909. 
Date. 
Rookery. 
Live 
pups. 
Dead 
pups. 
Total. 
1909. 
Aug. 2 
2 
Ketovi 
r 
1,669 
246 
60 
1,729 
250 
Amphitheater 
4 
4 
Lagoon 
693 
22 
715 
4 
Tolstoi Cliffs 
1,397 
309 
55 
1,452 
319 
4 
Zapadni Reef 
10 
Total 
4,314 
151 
4,465 
It was originally my purpose to count the pups on only Ketovi 
and Amphitheater, omitting all other rookeries, to avoid driving into 
the water any greater number of breeding cows than necessary. 
Counts of other rookeries were made, however, at the request of 
Mr. G. A. Clark, special representative of the Bureau of Fisheries, 
for comparison of their present condition with their status in 1897, 
when the pups thereon were counted by the fur-seal commission. 
The rookeries on which pups were counted on St. Paul in 1909 con- 
tained 106 harems at the height of the breeding season. As 4,465 
live and dead pups were found on the same area, and as each pup 
represents a breeding cow, each harem on this space would have on 
an average 42.1 cows. 
