THE RUSSIAN FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 115 



side, wbile the bays themselves are woiulerfiilly sheltered by reefs aud outlying rocks, 

 thus artbrdiiig' admirable places of safety for the growing pups, features which will 

 be fully appreciated by an inspection of plates 55 and 56. 



To illustrate the condition of these rookeries during the palmy days of the business 

 I am fortunate enough to be able to copy a couple of Voloshinof's photographs (pis. 

 53 and 57(() niad»' in 1885, to which I shall refer more in detail later on. 



GLINKA KOOKERIES, 1895. (Plate 14.) 



On the 2d of August I approached the Glinka rookeries in a boat from the north 

 and proceeded along their entire front from Lebiazhi Mys to Babinskaya Bukhta, 

 where we camped. I saw breeding seals in most of the places where I formerly saw 

 tbeni, but in vastly reduced numbers, liuchelors were also seen, but they were few 

 aud far between. At Pestshani hauling-ground, the place which once supplied many 

 thousands, and which even as late as 189.'? furnished 3,137 skins, there was not a 

 siugle bachelor. True, a drive had been made Ironi that place only a few days earlier, 

 which had resulted in 700 skins, but these 700 skins were all that this famous hauling- 

 ground yielded in 1895. 



However, the location of nearly all the former hauliug-grouuds was marked, not 

 so mucli by little bunches of a dozen bachelors or so, but, curiously enough, by a 

 line of black half-hulls. Thej' had hauled u[) aud occupied the beaches with regular 

 iutervals, much as do the old bulls in spring before the arrival of the females; in 

 fact they were in a measure playi:jg sikatch! These lonesome, patiently waiting 

 polusikatchi were first seeu at the old hauling grounds on both sides of Lebiazhi Mys, 

 and then on the west side of Peresheyek and of Pestshani Mys, and finally at the 

 eastern end of Babinskaya Bukhta. At these places they had hauled out by them- 

 selves. But, in addition, hundreds of these nearly mature young bulls (or probably 

 mature, though not strong enough to tight the older ones) skirted the breeding- 

 grounds, hauling out on outlying rocks and paying attention to the females coming 

 out for a swim or a trip to the distant feeding-grounds. On the breeding-grounds 

 dark-haired, vigorous-looking bulls abounded. 



This superabundance of vigorous, mature males was a strongly marked feature of 

 the rookery. This is the more remarkable, if we remember that it was already late in 

 the season when I vi.sited Glinka aud that, although I stayed until August 11, I saw 

 no diminution of it. The natives also informed me that on account of the still greater 

 number of bulls earlier in the season the fighting had been violent and incessant 

 on the rookeries. This abundance of bulls I have been told has beeu noticed for 

 several years. 



lu strong contrast to this exuberance of virility was the thinness of the female 

 ranks. They spread over nearly the same territory as formerly, but the lines had 

 shrunk and in many places there were large bare gaps. The magnificent Palata 

 showed many of the characteristic features that I knew so well, and yet it was only 

 the .shadow of the old rookery. The line running backward up the gully was there, 

 but it was very thin and narrow and broken in places. A comparison of my old 

 sketch (pi. 5i'), taken at high water, with my receut photograph from the identical stand- 

 point, low water (pi. 51 ), will give some idea of the difference I saw. Although taken 

 from a poiut somewhat different from mine. Colonel Voloshinof's photograph of Palata 

 as it looke<l in 1885 (pi. 53rt) fully bears out my sketch, when it is remembered that 



