up anil apparently divided between six or aeven boll*. \\ithinashort di-tanec ot it were 



:iid six \\rll--r.-\\ii lulls stiil " idle." 



\\ i- lia\i leie illu-trated -e\eral elementary facts of seal economy ; for instance, tliat 

 tli u 1 i- io n, i deration in the luill'- I, but that he gets to himself a- man\ cows as 



be possibly can; that the haiems are as diverse in number as tin- bulls arc unequal in 

 strength and kiocitv/, that tin- harems, once formed, an- not immutable, hut may in the 

 hi- linn.- :i up and . uted ; and that many Indk apparently in full 



Mungth and vL nr, n.ay lor month.-. together Tail to establish a harem at all. 



( HLiT partial counts nt' tin. 1 rookery (still on our first vi-it) ga\ ;re, 



:;:> 1 u>, t 10 laveraiv 17), *7-4 to 54 (average Hi 



on the whole an average of I 7' 4, and thiswa- very approximately the average that similar 

 its dscvsncie afterwards I .1 u> to. 



On the ."Dth .inly Colonel Mima 1 , with Mr. Lucas and me. (ounted the 



hart ins then existing on North Rookery, and found li'J.'i, with ahout 100 idle l)ulls. 

 Colonel Murra\'s stati-i'es lor the previous year yive 100 harems and . r >U idle Imlls. 

 l.'iT I. p. 87 







Staray Afil. 



The lookciv of Staraxc A til occupies, like several ethers (r.j/., at Zapadnie and Kast 

 KI ok( ri< - 'ii St. (!eor-e Island;, the place where :i comparatively level shore merges into 

 u lire of dills. The heveli . ol' the higher "round in such cases furnishes a uradual 



which the body ol seals extends to a considerable elevation. At Staiaye Aid a 

 high .-rein hill-side .U)|K-. in scmi-eircular lonn to a shingly tract facing northward. In a 

 hollow bctueen is a small lake, the rcstm_- place of innumerable kittiwakes. Beyond the 



in point i.l'tlie bay the eoa-t bends at a sharp an^le south-westward, and changes to 

 a line of dill's, precipitous, inaccessible, and unapproachable. The sharp ascending 

 summit-line ol the be^ininnir ot the clirl's forms the boundary of the hollow. The main, 

 rookery laces ninth-west, occupying the border of the slope towards the edge of the 

 precipice, to ahout. half-way up. On the front of the green hill-side, two thick patches of 

 wild celery (aiii/rUni) lonn a conspicuous land-mark, and around these and below them is 

 visible the outline of the old haulim;-i:round, less distinct than in the photographs of 18! J> J. 

 On the :>0th July a considerable body of bachelors was seen hijjh on the bill above the 

 main rookery. \\hiL-otherhachekis and idle bulls congregated in small numbers on the 

 beach. 



A comparison between Mr. Townscnd's photo<;rapb No. 38 (18th July, 1895) and 

 min i (7th July, 1896) or No. MJ (30th July) shows clearly enough that no 



conspicuous chaime had taken place in the rookery within a twelvemonth, while u 

 comparison of tl.e last two, taken at an interval of three weeks, shows that in the course 

 of the sui-oi' the rookery had spiead somewhat further up the hill and somewhat further 

 lioin the edire .f the din". 



In this rookery Colonel Murray counted, in my presence and Mr. Lucas's, on the 

 30th July, seventy-five harem- and sevent.y-tive idle bulls. His statistics for 18'J5 give 

 sixtv harems and forty idle bulls. 



Zapadnie (St. George"). 



Thi- r.'okery occupies the southern half of a wide bay on the south-west side of the 

 island. To the southward. I araye Atil, beyond the point .vhich tcrminaU-s the hay, 



a line cf high dill's succeeds to a level stretch of shore. The rookery CODSMtl ol two 



elongated patches on the beach and a third larger patch which partly lies below ami 

 partly a-eends the sloping ed^e of the rising ground where tin- leach iiicri.'- - into the dills. 

 Tie main hauling-ground for the bachelors lies between the t\\o latter portions, and al> 

 and behind the last. 



UV tiiM visited this rookery on the Utb and llth July. 



The lir>t or northernmost patch upon the beach then contained thir;y-t,\o harem-, 



the nine lar-c-t e.amtinu' from ten io thirty-three co\\s the ic-t varvinu Iroin o-.u upwards. 



giving (at t: the low aveiage . I '.>:.' COWi to each. Tweiity-lour lir-. idle bulls 



were counted in the immediate neighbourhood. '1 he great number of idle bulls in all 



- \\a> a con-pic'..(".:i feature of this rookery. 



middle patch of the same rookery is somewhat larger. 



I' .tli of the-e patches appeared to be somewhat narrower than Mr. Townsi-nd had 

 rcprtsented them in his chart of IS'Ja, but the first patch seemed to me somewhat more 



