54 



THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 





PARADE GROUND 



If the observer will glance at the map, he will see that the parade-ground in question lies directly over and 

 about 150 feet above, the breeding-seals immediately under it. The sand-dune tracts which border the great 

 body of the rookery seem to check the "holluschickie" from hauling to the rear, for sand drifts here, in a locality so 

 high and exposed to the full force of the wind, with more rapidity and consequently more disagreeable energy to 

 the seals than anywhere else on the island. 



A comical feature of this rookery is the appearance of the foxes in .the chinks under the parade-ground and 

 interstices of the cliffs; their melancholy barking and short yelps of astonishment, as we walk about, contrast quite 

 sensibly with the utter indifference of the seals to our presence. 



From Tolstoi at this point, sweeping around three miles to Zapadnie, is the broad sand-reach of English bay, 

 upon which and back over its gently risiug flats are the great hauliug-grounds of the "holluschickie", which I have 

 indicated on the general map, and to which I made reference in a previous section of this chapter. Looking at the 

 myriads of " bachelor seals " spread out iu their restless hundreds and hundreds of thousands upon this ground, one 

 feels the utter impotency of verbal description, and reluctantly shuts his note- and sketch-books to gaze upon 

 it with renewed fascination and perfect helplessness. 



Tolstoi rookery has attained, I think, its utmost limit of expansion. The seals have already pushed themselves 

 as far out upon the sand at the north as they can or are willing to go, while the abrupt cliffs, hanging over more 

 than one-half of the sea-margin, shut out all access to the rear for the breeding-seals. The natives said that 

 this rookery had increased very much during the last four or five years prior to the date of my making the 

 accompanying survey. If it continues to increase, the fact can be instantly noted, by checking off the ground and 

 comparing it with the sketch-map herewith presented. Tolstoi rookery has 3,000 feet of sea-margin, with an average 

 depth of 150 feet, making ground for 225,000 breeding-seals and their youug. 



Zapadnie rookery. — From Tolstoi, before going north, we turn our attention directly to Zapadnie on the west, 

 a little over two miles as the crow flies, across English bay, which lies between them. Here again we find another 



magnificent rookery, with features 

 peculiar to itself, consisting of great 

 wings separating, one from the other, 

 by a short stretch of five or six 

 hundred feet of the shunned sand- 

 reach which makes a landing and a 

 beach just between them. The north- 

 ern Zapadnie lies mostly on the gently 

 sloping, but exceedingly rocky, flats 

 of a rough volcanic ridge which drops 

 there to the sea ; it, too, has an ap- 

 proximation to the Tolstoi depth, but 

 not to such a solid extent; it is the 

 one rookery which I have reason to 

 believe has sensibly increased since 

 my first survey in 1872. It has over- 

 flowed from the boundary which I 

 laid down at that time, and has filled 

 up for nearly half a mile, a long rib- 

 bon-like strip of breeding-ground to 

 the northeast from the hill slope, end- 

 ing at a point where a few detached 

 rocks jut out, and the sand takes 

 exclusive possession of the rest of 

 t ii«' coast. These rocks aforesaid are 

 called by the natives "Nearhpahskie 

 kaimniu", because it is a favorite 

 resort for the hair-seals. Although 

 this cxteusion of a very decided mar- 

 gin of breeding-ground, over half a 

 mile in length, between 1S72 and 

 1S7G, does not, in the aggregate, 

 point to a very large increased number, still it is a gratifying evidence that the rookeries, instead of teudiug to 

 diminish iu the slighest, are more than holding their own. 



Zapadnie, in itself, is something like the Eeef plateau on its eastern face, for it slopes up gradually and gently 

 to the parade-plateau on top — a parade-ground not so smooth, however, beiug very rough and rocky, but which the 



