
Cattle ear-tag (Style 19M of National Band and Tag Company, Newport, 
Kentucky); dimensions before folding 0.9 x 9.5 x 101 mm. (0,036 x 3/8 x4 
inches; U. S. Gauge 20); weight 7.1 g.; monel metal (No. 35 of Eagle letals 
Company, Seattle, Washington); numbered consecutively 11,001 to 13,000 with 
numbers 6,5 mm. high; cost 4.125 cents. This tag was narrower and longer 
than any previously used, 
The tag was applied to the hind margin of the left fore flipper, on the 
furred part one-half to one inch proximal to the naked part, The clinching 
or locking tip of the tag, as well as the arm bearing the numbers, was 
upward in the final position. The tag was so thick and heavy that consider- 
able force was required to clinch it. The tagger placed the lower leg of 
the plier against the table and bore down once or twice on the upper leg with 
the heel of his hand. Rarely did a drop of blood appear. Operations were 
carried out in a chill wind with mist and rain. Sand and rockery filth cling- 
ing to the flippers of the pups gummed up the pliers and, as a consequence, 
2/7 tags failed to close properly and were thrown away. No seals were killed 
or injured in the tagging operation, so far as we know. 
(4) In 1947 we tagged and punched nearly 20,000 seal pups. of both sexes-- 
probably the largest group of mammals ever marked at one time. The purpose 
of the tagging was to provide a basis for a new measure of the size of the 
seal herd. By comparing the numbers of tagged and untagged three-year olds 
in 1950 we shall be able to estimate the number of pups born in 1947. «e 
found that tagging 20,000 seals was a long, difficult, and somewhat dangerous 
operation, in the course of which we were obliged to handle about 300 tons 
of live animals, 
Details of the punching procedure are given on peel, Specifications of 
the tag are as follows: 
Sheep-ear (Model 18 M HASCO of the National Eand and Tag Company, 
Newport, ae dimensions before folding 0.7 x 8 x 69 mm (0.030 x 5/16 x 
2-3/4 inches; U. S. Gauge 22); weight 3.2 g.; monel metal; on obverse numbered 
consecutively 1 to 20,000 with numbers 4 mm high and prefix "A"; on reverse 
stamped "NOTIFY F AND W SERVICE TASH D C"; cost 2.2 cents (fig. 13). 
We tagged between September 24 and October 10, 1947, on seven of the 
fourteen rookeries of St, Paul Island, avoiding the steeper, rock-strewn ones. 
Because 817 of the tags failed to clinch properly, we released a net total 
of 19,183 tagged animals, Sixty-seven pups and 14 cows died of smothering 
or overheating during the operation, representing a mortality of 0.42 percent. 
We followed essentially the same procedure in handling the seals that 
we have described on pp. 3-4. The crew included 13 native workmen and 4 
biologists. We used 2 tables 25 inches high and three sections of fence each 
2x 16 feet. We tagged each pup on the hind margin of the left fore flipper, 
at the junction of the naked and the furred surfaces, allowing the tag to 
project about one-quarter of en inch beyond the edge of the flipper. We fast- 
ened all but about the last 500 tags with point downward. We concluded, 
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