80 BULLETIN OF THE UNITF.D STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



the carcasses, both in the windrow and on the higher ground, the same state of aftairs 

 was apparent, viz, extreme leanness and emaciation. 



After the rookery had been completely cleared I took niy notebook and walking 

 along the beach (starting at the south end, west side) began to count the number of 

 dead pups, making a distinction between those in good condition and those in an 

 advanced stage of decay. I had gone about halfway round and counted about 200 of 

 the former class an<l 150 of the latter, when the starshena arrived and said he had 

 orders from the kossak, Selivanof, to ask me to leave the rookei-y at once. 



It was evident later that 8elivanof was uneasy because he thought that the number 

 of dead pups might in some way become charged against the management, for he tried 

 to make the whole thing a small affair and explained to nie that the number of dead 

 pups was due to their being trampled upon by the sikatchi. But for three very good 

 I'easons this theory docs not liold: (1) There are now very few sikatchi on the rookery 

 at all, entirely too few to be able by any possibility to even kill a small fraction of 

 the pu])s which have recently died; (2) if this trampling caused the death of so many 

 pups, how many nught we not expect in a drive like the one to-day, in which hundreds 

 were trampled upon, not once, but over and over again, yet not a single dead pup was 

 found in the wake of the drive ; (3) this explanation does not account for the emaciated 

 conditio7i of the bodies of the dead ones. 



Seeing the necessity of complying with the order to leave the rookery, I could not 

 finish my count. I am pretty positive, however, that the following estimate is not 

 much out of the way. I may preface it by saying that the number of dead bodies ou 

 the east side appeared to be about double that on the west side. 



Diiad pups on west side, counted, about 350 



Dead pups on east side, estimated, about 700 



Dead jinps on high ground, estimated, about 200 



'J'otal 1, 250 



In leaving the rookery I took from the high ground two bodies, which seemed quite 

 fresh and from which, therefore, it would seem possible to determine the cause of 

 death. In lifting the second body up by the hind flippers I was somewhat startled 

 to find it still gasping, though it was much too weak to give any signs of life when 

 lying on the ground. I carried it up to the killing-ground, where the rest of the 

 company had congregated, but the pup had died before I reached them. The other 

 pup had died apparently during the previous night. 



The doctor on board the I'orpoisr, Surgeon Lloyd Thomas, kindly (ionsented to 

 attend the |)0st mortem. t)n viewing the o]iene(l bodies he agreed with me that death 

 was due to inanition — lack of food. They were starved to death. There was not 

 a trace of fat left in the tissues under the skin nor on the muscles. The extreme 

 leanness of the carcasses was very noticeable. Both of us afterwards commented 

 n])on the plumpness of the average pups as they appeared in the drive. 



I satisfied myself while on the rookery that the fresh bodies in the windrow were 

 in the same condition, and the fact that they were thus thrown up on the beacli by the 

 sea signifies nothing, for we had had no severe weather as yet, and it is therefore 

 impossible that these pups could have been killed by any "surf nip." 



It may be well to remark right here that the fact that these bodies were found in 

 a windi-ow at high-water mark does not imjdy that they died in the water or were 

 killed by the sea. I have explained above that at low water a long stretch of beach 

 is bared, uijon which the pups roam about and play. Naturally, a good many of the 



