A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE 



DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



Official Organ of the Audubon Societies 



Vol. Ill March— April, 1901 No. 2 



Walrus Island, a Bird Metropolis of Bering Sea 



BY FREDERIC A. LUCAS 



With phoioghai'hs from nature bv H. 13. Chuhksikr 



IT was a sunny afternoon in July when the cutter Rush made a long 

 detour around the treacherous shallows off Reef Point, St. Paul 

 Island, and steaminij; hy Sivutch Rock, with its colony of fur seals 

 fanning themselves in the unwelcome sunshine, headed for Walrus Island. 

 We knew this spot from afar off and indistinctly, for, although hut six 

 miles distant from N. E. Point, such is the average summer weather of 

 Bering Sea that most of the time it is enshrouded in a mantle of fog. 

 Some of its inhabitants we knew very well, for the Hurgomaster Gulls 

 {Larus f^laucescens) which dwell there make daily visits to St. Paul in search 

 of the offal of the seal killing-grounds, or to peck at the eyes of the ii\ing 

 and dead pups on the fur seal rookeries, or to carry home a bit of vegeta- 

 tion for a nest. The few walruses, whence the island derived its name, 

 have disappeared, killed or driven away by the persecutions of man, and 

 the last one was shot in 1891. The spot was never a breeding ground, 

 merely the summer haunt of a score or so of old male walruses thrust out 

 of the compan\ of their fellows by younger ant! abler beasts, or preferring 

 a peaceful bachelorhood to the cares of married life. The birds, however, 

 remain undisturbeil, save for a few visits in early simimer from the natives, 

 who go over to load a boat or two with eggs that form an agreeable change 

 from salt and canned provisions. 



Half the distance between St. Paul ami Walrus Island had been 

 covered when a breath of cool air swept over the water, ami in .another 

 minute everything had vanished and we were steaming through the fog. 

 On we went until the patent log said that the islam! was not far distant, 

 and accordingl\' the Ru^h was slowi-d douii, while, in addition to the care- 

 ful lookout that had been coiitinualK kept, tin- k-ad was cast in order that 

 we nugiit not roiiic upon the Kind in more \\a\s than one. Ami now the 

 fog thinned out and rolled up into (Icci \ clouds, leaving ever\thing visible 

 for some (lisiance ahead, but ^(•\(•allll^ no trace of Walrus Island. I he 



