EVIDENCES OF DECLINE. 107 



of Kitovi, when only about half as many cows were present, shows to the casual 

 observer vastly more animals than one taken on the loth. This condition of things 

 continues throughout the remainder of the summer, the cows becoming more scarce 

 and the pups more conspicuous. 



THE TRUE VALUE OF PHOTOGRAPHS. 



It is not the purpose of this discussion to belittle the value of photographs. 

 They have their place and importance, but it is not their function to measure the 

 decline which the fur-seal herd is at present suffering, or has suffered in the past from 

 year to year. By a comparison of photographs taken at widely different dates, some 

 of them in July, others in August, Professor Thompson, in his report for 1896, sought 

 to prove that no decline had occurred in the herd between the seasons of 1896 and 

 1895. In view of this fact it becomes necessary for us to define the importance and 

 limitations of photographs as a measure of decline in rookery life. 



Photographs, in our judgment, are of value only as showing the large results or 

 changes which come through long periods of time. The photographs of the rookeries 

 of the Pribilof Islands show us plainly that its herd of seals has suffered a heavy 

 diminution since 1892. Those for the years 1894 and 1895 show clearly the disastrous 

 results of the resumption of pelagic sealing under the regulations of the Paris award. 

 Between the seasons of 1896 and 1897 photographs can only be trusted to record 

 change where breeding ground has been actually abandoned. Of the magnitude of 

 the decrease which the herd has suffered in the past five years photographs afford 

 abundant evidence, but they give no measure either of the total decrease nor of its 

 rate from year to year. Finally, for comparison only photographs taken at middle of 



July can be used. 



TOWNSEND'S CROSSES. 



One of the most definite evidences of decline is to be found in the shrinkage of 

 certain large breeding masses on such rookeries as Tolstoi, Zapadui, and Vostochni. 

 This is most plainly shown in the relation of the breeding masses to certain crosses 

 which Mr. Townseud, in 1895, painted to mark their outward extension. During 

 the season of 1896 these crosses were in no case reached at the corresponding period. 

 In some cases the breeding masses fell away from them from 50 to 100 feet. In 1897 

 the shrinkage was measured by yards where in 1896 it was measured by feet. 



SHRINKAGE OF BREEDING AREA. 



Another positive evidence of decrease is to be found in the disappearance of 

 certain small patches of breeding seals noted and marked on the rookery maps of 

 1895, but which were not to be found in 1896. One of these groups of harems was at 

 the southern end of Vostochni. Two others were at the extremities of the breeding 

 ground, known as Zapadui Reef. 



TOLSTOI SAND FLAT, ARDIGUEN, ETC. 



In 1897 this abandonment of breeding territory was still more noticeable as a 

 result of the minute inspection of the two seasons. On the sand flat of Tolstoi but a 

 small fraction of the area occupied in 1896 was covered this year, and practically no 

 seals were on the slopes behiud. At the head of the "slide" on Ardiguen last year 

 were three harems, aggregating 78 cows, as seen on the 14th of July. Making the 

 necessary allowance for absentees, there must have been an actual total of at least 



