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THE PUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOE ISLANDS. 



Under the cliffs in the part ol' the rookery near Tolstoi Head the cows and 

 harems were counted from the boat and afterwards more accurately from the cliff 

 above. There was found a total of 108 harems, with 1,498 cows, an average of 13.8. 

 This sort of rookery yrouud corresponds to that on Little Zapadni, Lagoon, and 

 Zapadni Keef, and the average harem runs about the same size. Following is a 

 detailed count by harems made by Mr. Lucas from the bluff behind : 



The count of the cliff portion of Tolstoi. 



Total cows 1,498 



Tot:il harems 108 



Average size of harems 13.8 



There is a great excess of idle bulls on the main part of Tolstoi rookery, the 

 rookery itself having diminished. Mr. Townsend has very appropriately said: " Our 

 rookeries are crowded with surplus male seals, useless for any purpose except to make 

 sole leather." There were only 19 idle bulls on the section at the foot of the cliffs, but 

 there was hardly room for more. Behind the main part of the rookery were many 

 savage idle bulls. They ])re\ented us from reaching the crosses painted up last year, 

 none of which are reached by the seal masses this year. 



The thinning out of this rookery since last year is evident, whether compared with 

 maps or photographs, and the greatest reduction is shown at the northern end toward 

 the sand beach. 



About 100 bachelors were hauled up in the rear of the rookery; another hundred 

 were hauled up on IMiddle Hill, and a third lay between the hill and the water. 



The sand Hat is literally black with pups. The pups are also thick on the side 

 of the clitf. It is surprising up what cliffs the seals will clind) to reach coveted 

 l)laces. They are to be found located on apparently inaccessible shelves far up the 

 cliff. The females on the sandy area are as densely massed as they can be. The bulls 

 can be counted, but not the cows. The bulls are quarrelsome. stei>ping on the pu])s 

 and plunging about through the harems on the slope of the hill more recklessly than 

 on any other rookery. Two dead pups were seen. 



Where a rookery can be more or less definitely extended inhuid, or uj) a- hillside, 

 there is room for idle bulls to accumulate about the rear. Where the rookery is 

 hemmed in by a cliff and is incapable ol extension there are few idle bulls, as all 

 cows are appropriated by the two or three lines of bulls between the clitV and tlie 

 water. — (Lucas.) 



A young bull was seen to dodge and fight his way past tliif<' Jiaiems, whose bulls 

 ]>itched into him. He was Ititteu on shouldei- and hip, but succeeded in reaching an 

 eleyated position in the rear of the harems. 



