298 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



One dead pup partly eaten by the foxes was found on the path toward the 

 village at some distance from the rookery. It may have been driven off by the foxes 

 and killed, or dragged away after dying from some other cause, but the body was 

 fresh. 



This rookery shows shrinkage more clearly than the other?. The whole area 

 occupied by idle bulls has evidently been within recent times covered with breeding 

 seals. 1 Beyond this area there is a region covered with seal grass which marks an 

 earlier abandonment. The area of the rookery is about one-eighth to one-tenth its 

 former extent. 



The same evidence of shrinkage is to be seen in the hauling ground which lies at 

 the foot of the slope and back toward the little lake in the basin. There are 300 or 

 400 bachelors asleep on the hauling ground. As they lie there stretched out they 

 suggest the appearance of the killing ground before the village. The hauling ground, 

 as now occupied, is but about one-tenth its former area. 2 



Professor Thompson, on his return from Zapadni, displayed a handful of 

 buckshot which had been taken from the bodies of seals at the killing there. 



JULY 10. 



The day was unsuitable for photographing. Dr. Jordan, Professor Thompson, 

 and Colonel Murray came on board and the Albatross steamed round to Zapadni with 

 a view to landing and counting that rookery. It was not possible to land and the 

 ship anchored to await the following morning, it being desirable that this rookery 

 should bo counted and photographed, if possible, before leaving for St. Paul Island. 



JULY 11. 



A landing was made at Zapadni in the morning and the rookery counted. At 

 noon the photographs were taken. In the afternoon the Albatross, with all on board, 

 steamed for St. Paul, arriving at 6 o'clock in the evening. 



ZAPADNI ROOKERY. 



Zapadni rookery lies on the western shore of the island, 5 miles distant from the 

 village. It occupies a long sloping hill which breaks off into a cliff' on its seaward 

 edge. It resembles in this respect Staraya Artel rookery. The harems were massed 

 upon the side of the hill, on the bench-like plateau at its foot, and on the shingle of 

 the beach beyond the slope. In the latter place they lie in two detached groups. 



The present area of the rookery seems to be roughly about one-tenth what it once 

 was. Compared with Mr. Townsend's maps of last year, all three sections of the 

 breeding ground show decrease, the southernmost end showing the most. The north 

 and middle sections do not now come above the upper limit of the beach. The 

 decrease of this rookery is even more marked than that of Staraya Artel. 



'Later observations showed that this area was regularly occupied by the cows and pups as they 

 hauled back after the breeding season. 



"It was found later in the season that the bachelors shifted much upon the hauling grounds, and 

 so the abandonment in territory can not be taken as a direct measure of the reduction of the bachelor 

 herd, as a few seals can denude a considerable area of ground in a short time if they move about- 

 over it. 



