334 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIIUI.OP ISLANDS. 



large and 1: small ones. Tlie rookery does not now go more tlian twotiftlis of tlie 

 distance from the shore to Towusemrs cross of last year. Distant patches also seem 

 smaller and do not extend np to the bank. Twenty bulls are now visible in one part 

 of the mass where 30 were sbowti in 1892. There were -'■'> idle bulls in sight in 1892, 

 where there are now some 30: but this is not wortli much. The chief change is in the 

 thinness and narrowness of the entire mass. 



In another view from a photograph of 1892 a line from point to i)oint would mt 

 oft' 40 harems and (iOO seals from the mass. At the present time the mass falls 40 feet 

 short of this line, and only 5 small isolated harems on the rocks above would be cut 

 oft'. Along the seashore no great change is evident, but from the sand all harems 

 are gone. One-third of the whole great mass west of the foot of Hutchinson Jlill 

 is gone. 



Looking north there is less change visible. I^ine bulls are today about e(iui(listant 

 in a straight line running obliquely across the sands from the foot of Hutchinson Hill 

 toward the east, but all are idle except 2. In the photograph of 1892 there is shown 

 a similar line of bulls in the sandy tract, all occupied and iu the very midst of the 

 rookery, 10 to 20 feet west of its outer edge. 



About 200 harems are west of Hutchinson Hill; 200 more in the large patches 

 south of it. All the rookery masses are every where 30 to ."iO feet short of Townsend's 

 crosses. 



One old bull, far above the others on the slope of Hutchinson Hill, had two cows 

 which were stampeded. One got away to the harem below. The bull followed the 

 second one down the hill, seized her, and tinally succeeded in getting her back. 

 Meanwhile he roared and fairly wept, his voice telling as plainly as could be his 

 feelings. Another bull attacked him and the rescued cow ran away to join the other 

 in the large harem below, leaving the old fellow alone and swearing. He climbs back 

 to his rock disconsolate. When a bull chases another bull, or a man, he goes only 

 about 10 feet and then looks back instinctively to see what has become of his cows. 

 Then the object of pursuit can get away. 



There is an enormous mass of seals under Hutchinson Hill, the largest on the 

 island. Vostochni is a noble rookery, though far short of its former greatness. 



.-. \v(>rNi>Ki> iiri.i,. 



One 5-year old bull, blind of one eye and hurt in the other, is ordered killed. 

 Before he can be secured 3 other bulls attack him and nearly kill him. Xowhere has 

 been seen such a ferocious lot of idle bulls, some of them old and brown. Fierce 

 quarrels are in progress all along the rookery line. 



The blind bull is probably years old instead of 5. He is a noble fellow, but 

 badly used and getting thin. His left eye is nearly gone on account of a cataract-like 

 thickening. Right eye entirely gone. On closer examination the eyes are found to 

 have been destroyed by buckshot. We find more buckshot under the skin. The skin 

 is taken for museum purposes. The coarse gray wigs have little of sealskin beauty, 

 but the brown and black ones are handsome. 



There is great commotion on the rookery when we move about, but no attention 

 is paid to the shooting of the bull, and when we are (piiet all the idle bulls settle down 

 to watch US and fan themselves in the sunshine. 



