Elephant Seals of Guadalupe Island 



into the sea, thus making the top of the island 

 altogether inaccessible from this point. Its north- 

 ern end is well marked by heavy rock slides. The 

 beach is accessible from the sea only, and is usually 

 further protected by a heavy surf. It is not more 

 than three or four hundred yards in length by 

 thirty in width, and the greater part of it is sandy, 

 the inner margin being lined with talus from the 

 cliffs. 



The seals had little fear of man, and the few 

 animals which left the beach after we landed prob- 

 ably would not have done so had they not been dis- 

 turbed by sailors walking among them. While the 

 large specimens were being skinned and skeleton- 

 ized, some of the animals slept undisturbed within 

 thirty feet of where the men were working. I suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining about fifty good photographs, 

 showing the general character of the rookery and 

 the attitudes of the animals. The herd consisted 

 chiefly of large males and immature animals of 

 various sizes. There were probably not more than 

 fifteen adult females present, and only six of these 

 were accompanied by new-born young. The indi- 

 cations were, therefore, that other adult females 

 would arrive later. 



The three males which we killed were the largest 

 in sight, and were found to average just sixteen 



411 



