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Worn rocks.

Bunch-grass

zone.

Comparative size of areas.

Decrease shown by rookeries.

the former movements of the seals. This polishing, though now partly hidden by weathering and the growth of lichens, is still conspicuous, and can be attributed to no other cause than to the movements of the seals on the rookeries during a long period of years. The fact that the sides of these same rocks remain in their original rough condition is sufficient proof that the smooth upper surfaces could not have been produced by sand-polish.

In some of the rookeries another zone may be discerned behind the yellow-grass zone, indicating the extent of the rookery at some still more remote period. The grass on this area is bunch grass (Deschampsia caespitosa); the lichen growth on the rocks is heavier than on the one just described, and the polished surfaces of the rocks show more weathering. This latter zone abuts against the more elevated turf bearing the characteristic tall grass of the islands, and marks the period of maximum abundance of the seals.

The aggregate size of the areas formerly occupied is at least four times as great as that of the present rookeries.

In short, the characteristics of a region long occupied by seals are so marked as to be unmistakable, and while it is possible to explain the existence of a small part of the unoccupied

by rookeries.

ground on the supposition that the seals 'rove', Decrease shown more or less, occupying this field at one time and that at another, no one who studies the islands as they now are can fail to see that the space now covered by seals is only a fringe compared with the areas that were once alive with them.

present

female portion of herd.

Having answered the first of the two queries, Decrease is in relating to conditions of seal life at the time, the second becomes important. It is, Has the decrease in numbers been confined to any particular class of seals, or is it most notable in any class or classes? In answer to this it is

our opinion that the diminution in numbers began and continues to be most notable in

female seals.

tice decrease

in

It is quite likely, in fact almost certain, that Difficult to nothe decrease would not be first discovered or females. remarked in this class.

The Government officers and Company's agents on the islands are principally concerned with the 'holluschickie,' in which class the killable seals are found, and the first signs of decadence would probably appear in the fact that more seals had to be driven in order to obtain a given number of merchantable skins.

Difficulty in obtaining quota after 1887.

Mistaking effect for cause.

For eighteen years after the Alaska purchase

about one hundred thousand bachelor seals were secured annually without difficulty and without impairing the productiveness of the breeding rookeries, but the decrease brought about by pelagic sealing made it extremely difficult to obtain this number after 1887, and the standard of size was lowered several times in order to obtain the full quota. In 1890 the rookeries and hauling grounds had fallen off to such an alarming extent that the Treasury agent in charge ordered the killing to stop on July 20, at which date only twenty-one thousand seals had been secured, and it may be added that this number was taken only after the greatest exertion on the part of the Company's agents.

The percentage of seals of killable size was so small (fifteen to twenty percent) compared with the percentage of yearlings, that it is not surprising that the Treasury agents on the islands were impressed with the scarcity of young males, and being new men, inexperienced in matters relating to seal life, were easily led to mistake effect for cause and attributed the decrease to the killing of too many young males at the islands in previous years, instead of to the destruction of the mothers and young by

pelagic sealers, an error they were quick to cor

rect after another year's experience.

Mistaking effect for cause.

Decrease shown

The number of seals killed each day during by daily killing. the killing season may be taken as a rough index to the rapidity of the decline of the rookeries in the past few years. Treasury Agent Charles J. Goff, in charge of the seal islands in 1889-'90, states in his official report that the average daily killing in 1890 was five hundred and twenty-two, while in 1889 it was one thousand nine hundred and seventy-four for the same period.

ury Agent Goff.

In his report for 1889 Treasury Agent Goff Report of Treasstates: "The alarming decrease in the daily, weekly, and monthly receipts of [skins by] the Alaska Commercial Company, and as a dernier resort by said Company to secure their one hundred thousand skins, the killing of smaller seals than was customary attest conclusively that there is a scarcity of seals, and that within the last year or so they are from some cause decreasing far beyond the increase." He states further: "I regard it absolutely essential, for the future of the rookeries, that prompt action be taken by the Department for the suppression of illegal killing of seals in Bering Sea, and that the utmost economy be observed in taking the seals allowed by

law."

females was not noticed.

Why decrease of A considerable decrease in the number of female seals upon the breeding rookeries might not be noticed at first where the total number is so large, but in two or three years the effect of this loss would be felt in the class of killable seals, and might there be quite evident. The loss in one class would thus follow surely but somewhat behind the other in time. When the diminution in the number of killable seals became notable, attention was at once drawn to the breeding rookeries, and it was found that they were being depleted. Thus Captain Webster declared: "The great destruction has been among females. Formerly there would be, on an average, thirty cows to one bull; now they will not average fifteen."

Diminished size of harems.

Effect of decrease of females on male life.

And Mr. Redpath (already quoted) stated: "Not more than one-half as many females are on the rookeries this year as were found there ten years ago."

The reaction of a considerable reduction in the number of females upon the number of young male seals would be immediate and certain, while a reduction in males must reach such a point as to lessen the supply of bulls for the breeding rookeries before the birth-rate can be affected. There is no evidence to show that this limit has been reached in recent years, and it seems clear,

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