12 



and the Reef to the number of 2,400 and 2,256 respectively, and the pups on the Reef 

 to the number of 3,862, showing on the latter breeding-ground 71 per cent, beyond the 

 visible number of cows. 



Polavina. 



This rookery, 'with its neighbour or outlier, Little Polavina, lies half-way along the 

 eastern coast of the island, at the far end of the long sandy shore that stretches north- 

 wards from Lukannon. In the centre of the rookery a long, low spit projects into the 

 sea, to the south of which are other low-lying, half-submerged reefs. Opposite to Ihese a 

 rocky terrace fringes the shore, and above it lies a broad, bare plateau, on which the seals 

 congregate. At the south end of the rookery the terrace is broken, and the ascent is 

 gradual from the beach. Beyond this point the beach is narrower, and its cliffs higher 

 (though not so high as to prevent frequent possibilities of ascent or descent), and in 

 these cliffs are (bund several deep recesses in the columnar basalt (photograph No. 55), each 

 occupied by its group of harems, while other harems are scattered sparsely below the 

 cliffs. The flat, hare plateau extends the greater part of the way to Little Polavina, a 

 distance of more than a mile, and about u id-way between the two rookeries a convenient 

 gully furnishes an ascent to it for the bachelors. The chief hauling-grounds are therefore 

 to tl.e south of Polavina, where the sands end and the rocks begin, half-way between the 

 two rookeries, and again around the rookery of Little Polavina. Little Polavina itself 

 (photographs Nos, 6, 57) is a small rookery surrounding the base of a small jutting 

 point. The seals lie for the most part on stony level ground, facing a low hillock above 

 the sea. 



Of the rookery of Polavina we have two very excellent photographs antecedent in date 

 to our visit, viz., Mr. Macoun's, panorama, 60, 6i (6th August, 1892), and Mr. Townsend's 

 No. 9 (26th July, ^95). In Mr. Macoun's pictures taken later in the season, the seals 

 spread further back than in Mr. Townsend's, and the aspect of the picture is affected by 

 the different state of the tide, which in Mr. Macoun's nearly submerges the reefs ; but, 

 nevertheless, comparison of the two is plain and simple, and 1 arn quite unable to see 

 any sign of diminution in the later view. Indeed, it seems to me that the later picture shows 

 actually more seals than the earlier. 



The evidence in regard to Polavina is very conflicting, and the condition of the 

 rookery deserves particular attention in the future. It seemed to me, and it seems on 

 reinspection of my photographs Nos. 52, 53 (23rd July, 1896), and Mr. Macoun's 

 No. 17 (15th July) and Nos. 69, 71 (28th July), that the rookery is less than the earlier 

 photographs show it to have been, but I saw nothing on the spot, and T can see 

 nothing in the photographic evidence to warrant Mr. Townsenci's strong assertion 

 (op. cit. p. 31), that, comparing 1895 with 1894, the " main rookery, situated on a compa- 

 ratively level tract, is shrunken perhaps 50 per cent, in dimensions.'' 



North-east Point. 



The great rookery of North-east Point is by far the largest on the islands. It is 

 grouped around the sides cf a peninsula commanded by Hutchinson's Hill, an eminence 

 about 80 feet high. This hill lies towards the western side of the middle of the peninsula, 

 and on the shore below it and up the slope extends the most densely populated portion 

 of the rookery. The rookery begins on the west side of the narrow isthmus of the 

 peninsula on a rocky beach, and extends with a few slight interruptions to the extremity 

 of North-east Point, a distance of about 2,500 to 3,000 yards. About the middle of it's 

 length, where it skirts the hill, the ground is more sandy, and the space occupied by the 

 seals is much broader than elsewhere. The chief haulinu-grounds on the west side are 

 just to the northward and southward of the hill. On the east side the breeding-grounds 

 are much less extensive. On this side, nearly opposite to Hutchinson's Hill, is a rocky 

 cape about 250 yards long, known as Sea- Lion Point. On its northern and southern 

 shores (photographs Nos. 42, 43) ;:re small patches of harems; south of it, on the beach, 

 is a more considerable one (photograph No. 44). A large rookery (photograph No. 41, 

 Macoun's photograph No. 96) lies about 300 to 400 yards north of it, and a long narrow 

 strip fringes the greater part of the shore between this last and North-east Point. The 

 rookeries on the two sides of the peninsula are now distinguished by Dr. Jordan under the 

 separate names of Vostochni for the larger western portion and Morjovi for the smaller 

 part or parts On the east. The latter name is given in allusion to the once innumerable 

 wall uses that have left their whitened bones in witness of a slaughter more ruthless thau- 



