11 



of 2,'it', i, giving an inci 77'^ per cent, over the original count o! ,m are 



of 'J (Mi to the c.i:intcd harems. The partial count of the i , 1> 



Mr. Towiiseiid (/,. r//., p. .'5.')), "trom the point to the end of the (Ira-s Bluff," app 

 to correspond with the one above alluded to as " mrler the dill's." F,, r this area Mr. Towu- 

 -end give* I i;i harems and l.u.'W cows, an average of l.'HJtoa harem. These nn ulier 

 approximately identical with those of Dr. Jordan for 1896. 



\\ Idle we nave thus no evidence ; . decrease of the rookery durinir the perm I 



l^-llj '.)(!. yet it must in tin- a change is perceptible since tl: 



photographs were taken in 1 S 'J! '.'_. Th<- great mass <> uo-tly bachelor-, 



in Dr. DawMiu'- photograph NO. :',." ( I'.tth August. 1891), was far h.-\ond auvthiii 



^ on the spot this \ear, and the rookery is, I tumk, undoubtedly more |iopulous as 

 rcpre.-cntcd in .Mr. Mac-nun' .70 and 71 (8th Anu 



IS'.J'J). Tl A 'is the bachelors diminishes in 



nnportance, it its importai '. alU)'_ r cihei vanish, when we remember the small 



number killed upon the island during 1 s '.' >, ISM. and 1892, a compared with the 

 numiter slam lieiore and during our inspection of 1896; and as regards the breeding areas, 

 ins; 'cei ion ol the photographs above ijiiotcd suggests that the areas occupied have shifted 

 -nice that tiui". The pictures ?cem to me to indicate that while the seals extended cou- 

 rahly beyond, thev were less numcrou.- immediately within, what is the present margin 

 ol the rookcn. Mr Towiiseiid himself allude* to such a change and the possible reasons for 

 it (nfi. cit.} when he -a\> that " allowance should be made for a change in the shape ol the 



. itsel ', 100 feel or more of sand being tilled in the bight at the left end of the rookery." 

 But, m;iking the hest of the evidence in hand, I am quite prepared to believe that 

 Tolstoi Rookery is towards its northern extremity considerably poorer than it was five 

 Vcarc a 1:0. 



Zapadnie (St. Paul). 



This lariie rookery known also as Upper or Greater Zapadnie, fringes the rocky 

 western extremity of English Bay. The ground is low and irregular, consisting of patches 

 ol rock, tracts of broken stones, mid intervening spaces of sand. The -seals occupy the 

 shore for a -pace ol horn 1,500 yards to a mile, and run backwards, following more or less 

 closely the contour of the ground, in long re-entrant lines or avenues. Three of these 

 re-entrant line-, near the east end of the rookery, are conspicuous in photographs taken 

 from the direction of the adjacent rookery of Little Zapadnie, to the east. The rookery 

 terminates to the we-tward in a line of cliffs. The whole area covered by seals is very large. 



The great c.\ten< and irregular distribution of the rookery render a bird's-eye 

 inspection or the comparison of photographs of little value. So far, as far as the photo- 

 graphs go, my photograph No. 33 (loth July, 1896) compares favourab'y with 

 Mr. Towiisend's No. 10 (20th July, 1805). The only picture showing evidence of a 

 once greater abundance is Mr. Macoun's No. 41 A, 1892, which covers the eastern 

 portion of those just alluded to; but when we reinspect the more recent pictures, we see 

 that, though the precise spot is bare, the adjacent ground immediately to the west is thickly 

 populated, and the evidence of the little area by itself bears no conclusion. 



Little Zapadnie occupies the stony front of a knoll about 500 yards long, separated 

 from Greater Zapadnie by a small sandy bay (South-west Bav), into which runs a 

 streamlet from a lake. Patches of snow above the bay and rookery remain throughout 

 the summer, and tor:n a conspicuous landmark. The rookery is compact in form and 

 pretty thickly populated. 



From the knoll of Lower Zapadnie a st ny beach extends eastward for about 

 1,000 yards to the sai ds of English I'ay, and along this beach arc scattered eitrht or nine 

 patches ol seals, which were spoken oi' collectively last year as the "Reef of Zapadnie." 

 These patches are approximately identical with Mr. Towiisend's chart of them for I >!):"> ; 

 even a ver\ tiny patch immediately to the cast of Low: r Zapadnie being still occupied, 

 though only by a single bull and cow. (It probably contained no more than a single haiem 

 the previous year.) 



For 1895 Colonel Murray estimated the whole area of Zapadnie (including l.o MI 

 Zapaduit and the " Reef ") to contain 500 harems, with 100 idle bulls. In 1896 (Kith 

 July) he placed the number at .077 and 4JI respectively, assigning -177 harems ami -Jin 

 inle bulls to Greater Zapadnie. 



'4 he enumeration made under Dr. Jordan produced a result verv considerably in 

 excess of this, \i/.., 583 harems for Greater and 210 for Les.-er Zapadnie and 1 7<i 

 more for the Reef, a total of 96y in all. The cows were counted on Lesser Zapadnie 



