13 



any that th seal- ! . been subjected to. When the store house on the isthmus 



built, i 1 to have bad i 1 . - -andy foundation.- paved with tliir.i-.iinK of tn-kless 



ski:!!-. Ci.lni: itill c\i-t on Sea-Lion Point, on a smaller point mid 



between tli.it ;i!id Nortli-i a-t I'oint. hctw.cii the two pate 1 -,- M l rookerv, ;:nd a'jain 



at DM or two -m. ill points on the , side near the I ,r end of the peninsula. The 



chief hauling-groundg ol Q the eastern sid" lie ju-t beyond Sea-Lion I'oint (p||. 



graph N :iid an nnd the rookery beyond. Many seals aKo lianl out c!o-r to North- 



I'oint itself. ! V ;n thi- -ic.it rookery tl\e si-aK are not driven all at once, but 

 UMially troin tin w -t .ani east didefl OH eon-, ctitive da\-. 



V- i lie ea-tcrn poition of the rookery, our photographs i^ive i;ood pictures of 



I a rue mass midway b Lion I'oint and tin- far end. This i- -ho.vn in 



Mi. 'lownseiui's photograph v ' Mth .July, IS'I.'H. in Mr. Maeoun's No-. 1 and '2 

 (22nd July), and No. 5! ,;l No. 1M (Kith .Inly, 1896), ami less well 



in mine N.I. II i 1 .'.th .Inlv. I'lien- i- no diiieivnee w hatsoever between the pictures 



of thi- portion ( ,t the rookcn taken in lS ( .). r ) and i s'.t(i. (Tin- little patch marked hcyond 

 the irivat one on Mr. Townseiid's chart of 1895, was still distinctly recognisable, though 

 -hown in the photograi,:. 



In Mi. .Macoun'- photographs of IS'.)-', the bachelor seals were very much more 

 nutneroii-. This fact, like the similar phenomenon already noticed at Tolstoi, may be 

 simply due to the small number killed at that time, but, to judge by the photograph, I 

 fain okerv itself wa- then somewhat larger. 



On the western side of the rookery, looking from the top of I lutchinson's Hill, 

 we have an eiiorm.ms nnmhei ol seals in direct view. \Viili the older photographs 

 in hand, it appeared to me at my first visit (Kith -July) impossible to doubt that 

 a diminution of --als had taken place here since l^'.U '.>'2, and wider intervals separated 

 the MV.K iiom tlie hill, and, especially towards the south, the extent of this part 

 of the rook ined curtailed. The broad >t retch of sand here was almost bare 



where in the IS'.J-J photographs it wa- thickly bestrewn. This impreion still remains 

 with me, but 1 am bom :y that it wa- weakened, and my estimate of its 



nt diminished by my nt vi-it>. The extent to which the "spreading" 



of the herd alter* the appearance of thi* rookery as the summer advances is 

 enormon-. I: \\..~ with complete astonishment that on the 9th August we found the 

 hnetiin- \temliiu up to the topmost rocks on the western side of the bill, and 



surrounding the photographic- station from which we had three weeks before viewed them 

 at a distance. The effect i* >hown in Mr. Maeoun's photographs of the 10th August. 

 The ( ariy photograph on which my tio.. impression of decrease has been based was that 

 taken by Mr. Macoun on the 20th Au^u-t, 1^92, a still later day allowing for still 

 . i cxteiisirn. between our photographs of 1896 and Mr. Townsend's 

 No. !i rJ4th July, ls9;")) i cj-.u detect no perceptible dirference. 



The counts of this rookery are not very >ati> ...cioi > . Kor 1S 1 JO Colonel Murray 

 estimated the harems (in round numbers) at 1,72;"); in Ib9t (18th July) he found i,")95. 

 The ci h-ii- by Dr. Jordan's party fell considerably below Colonel Murray's figures, giving 

 only 'J7"> harems lor the wc.-tern and 29 :i tor the eastern side, a total of 1,268 for the 

 whole rookery. I cannot help thinking some cjualilication or supplement is required to 

 this estimate. It may he that the harems were all on the average large, or it may be that 

 the influx of younger .-ows added largely in the later part of the season to these numbers. 

 For the numbers are certainly surprising ; inasmuch as they would make the rookery out to 

 be only two ancl a-half times as large as Tolstoi and less than one-third larger than the 

 whole of Zapadi:ie, or, in other words, one-sixth smaller than the united rookeries at the 

 two ends of Knylish Hay : and it is certain that the apparent size of North-east Point 

 ixeiy is mcater than this, and that the yield of its killing-grounds is beyond the 

 proportion ot such an estimate. 



Reef Rookery,'* 



This rookery encircles the southern peninsula of the island, as that of North-east 



Point SUIT '.mid- the northern. The western side of ttie rookery is known as Garbotch. 



The small hay TO the south-west of the village has in its middle part a stretch of 

 some -2:>(> yards of sandy beach, sloping upwards to some sandy dunes, known as Xoltoi 

 Sands. Behind the dunes the u round continues to rise till it forms, on the ea-tern Me of 

 the isihmu-, a precipitous cliff, beneath winch lie many bachelors and halt-hull.-. 



On the west side, facing the south half of the sands, is a StODJ ascent, on which and 

 on the stones I, clow the hoilox hikkie repo-e (photograph No. : 



' Heyond the sands the ,-iiore of the bay consists i,t a rou-b narrow bead), at first with 

 low, rou-h -rassy cliii's above, fuither on with a hiirh bank of broken stones, and at the 

 [313] E 



