80 REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 



269. On Copper IslaTid, however, as on Beliring Island, M. Tillman, 

 the Superintendent in charge for the Russian Government, states that 

 even when the seals were more abundant than in 1891, there has never 

 been any lack of room for expansion of the rookeries and hauling 

 grounds, and that there are many other localities in all respects equally 

 well suited for occupation by the seals, though these usually occupy the 

 same or nearly the same stations year after year. It is thus evident 

 on the Commander as on the Pribylotf Islands, that no very special or 

 peculiar physical features are required to render certain spots suitable 

 as the breeding resorts of the fur-seal. It is necessary to emphasize 

 this point, as the question has been obscured by a tendency to surround 

 it with a certain mystery, and to affirm that certain spots, and those 

 alone, are available as rookery grounds. 



270. The fact remains to be explained, however, that the breeding 

 seals actually do resort with great i)ersistency to the various recognized 

 rookeries, congiegating in these spots and leaving other neighbouring 

 parts of the shores of the breeding islands untenanted. There is 

 indeed some evidence to show that the same old bulls or ''beach- 

 masters" fi'om year to year occupy the same places, and it is quite 

 probable that the instinct which induces many animals to return to the 

 same place in succeeding seasons, may influence the fur seal. There 

 is, however, another and very obvious practical cause for the reoccu- 

 pation of old rookery grounds. As a rule, these extend some distance 

 beyond the reach of the se;), and are there by the continuous j)resence 

 and movement of the seals not only bared of vegetation, but beaten 

 down into smooth and hard flats and slopes, and therefore constitute 

 as long as they are occui)ied each year, and from this very cause, the 

 places most congenial to the seals. The fact that the first of the seals 

 to arrive in the spring, coast along the shores and land for a time in a 

 timid and tentative way only, shows that they are in search either of 

 their old breeding stations or of suitable new ones, and there can be no 

 doubt that they are largely guided in their choice by the very manifest 

 traces of former occupation by their species which the rookery sites 

 present. 



271. Kot the least evident of these signs is the peculiar and very 

 distinct odour of the rookery grounds. It is certain that the sense of 

 smell is more trusted in by the fur-seal as an indication of danger than 

 either that of sight or hearing (the eye and possibly the ear also being 

 probably adapted j-ather to use in the water than in the air) and it is 

 more than likely employed in relocating the old breeding grounds in 

 each succeeding year. This is the opinion of the natives, who have 

 had the best opportunities for observation, and is borne out by many 

 other facts, some of which are elsewhere alluded to in this report. 



272. The reasonable consideration of this subject has been somewhat 

 obstructed by the assumption of an entirely unwarranted fixity in the 

 position and area of the ground occupied each year by the breeding 

 and non-breeding seals of each rookery site. For the very reason, 

 ax)parently, that such fixity is not found in nature, it appeals to the 

 imagination of writers of a certain class. While it may therefore be 

 admitted that the several rookeries have on the whole a notable degree 

 of permanency, this undoubtedly arises from their continued occupa- 

 tion each year, rather than from any peculiar physical conditions in 

 the places chosen ; and while the animals are clearly averse to sudden 

 change, the boundaries of individual rookeries when not naturally 

 limited, evidently from year to year increase in one direction and 

 diminish in another, in consequence of circumstances which may at 



