112 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



The result was that the rookery was gradually increasinji. Finally, in 1880, it 

 was deemed sufficiently large to station a small force of men under Mr. ^'olokitin at tiie 

 place, and in that year 787 skins were taken. It seems, however, that the capacity of 

 the rookery was underestimated and not enough salt was landed, so that no more could 

 be taken care of. In 1881, in spite of the complaint that although there are "many 

 sikatchi on both rookeries" there are "but few holustiaki, mostly in the water," the 

 South Rookery yielded 1,150 skins. The following year (188"J) the catch was 1,410. 



When I visited this rookery on August 21, 1882, 1 found the entire beach between 

 the first and second cape west of the waterfall covered with seals, the breeding se.als 

 occu])ying the portion nearest to the water, the bachelors patches at both ends and in 

 the rear up to the inner grass-covered belt. 



SOUTH ROOKEKY, 1895. (Plah: 10.) 



How different when I approached the same ground again August 17, 1895, thir- 

 teen years later almost to the date! Only a handful of female seals were left at the 

 extreme western end of the rookery. 



I am very fortunate in being able to present copies of two photographs taken 

 by the late Colonel Volosliinof in 1885, which, as they are taken from almost the 

 same standpoint as one of my own (pi. 20), afford excellent comparison betwe mi 

 the conditions of Poludionnoye Rookery then and now. In the right-side half of 

 his double picture (pi. 31ft) a series of smaller rocks in the water extends from the 

 beach to the outer end of the west reef. This series of rocks will be recognizeil 

 toward the lower left-hand corner in my photograph (pi. 29), and will serve to orient 

 the reader. It will then be seen that the entire beach, which, in my picture of 1805 

 is absolutely bare of seals, is covered with thousands in Voloshiuof's picture of 1885, 

 and that the compact body of seals then extended even a good distance beyond. To 

 complete the comparison I add another photograph of mine (pi. 28) looking in the 

 opposite direction (toward the waterfall), which shows the utter desolation of the entire 

 beach beyond the little black patch. 



As for the proportions of the various classes of seals on this rookery I found the 

 conditions to be similar to those on the North Rookery. It was re])orted in Nikolski 

 thatthere had been only 1 bull on the rookery in 1805, but upon inrjuiry iit the rookery 

 I was informed by Xikanor Grigorief, the iiative in charge, that the actual number 

 of sikatchi had been 5. This number may be considered exact, and the number of 

 females to each bull was, therefore, probably nearly 100. There were plenty of pups 

 when I visited the rookery, and no barrenness of the females was suggested. 



By dint of hard scraping no less than 564 skins were secured in 1895, 159 of 

 them, however, between August 17 and September 9. 



COPPER ISLAND. 



KARABELNOVE ROOKERV, 1882-83. (Pl.ite It.) 



The distribution of seals on this rookery, as I fimnd it during the weelv July 3-10, 

 1883, is shown on the map (pi. 11). Every available space under the cliffs was occu- 

 pied by breeding females. Even the ledges at the foot of them and the lower portion 

 of the steep ravines were full of them. The bachelors were obliged to be satisfied 

 with the outlying reefs and rocks, witli the beach on the east side of Karabelni Stolp, 

 and the rocky beaches at Vodoj^ad and beyond. The rookery was iu excellent coudi- 



