39(i THE FUR SEALS OF THE I'KIHILOF ISLANDS. 



been for some tiiiio. 'I'liere are 31 bulls, not more than half seemingly old timers, on 

 the whole of Ardii;iien. There are ls9' cows present, and 434 pnps. This count, how- 

 ever, is not likely to be tinal, as it was made from the top of the bank, and there may 

 be a huge number of pups and a few cows hidden. 



Ardiguen presents extremely favorable conditions for pups, there being ai)pareutly 

 only li dead pui)s in the entire region. No bachelors run down in this slide, which is 

 well provided with angular rocks. There is lu) hauling ground at xVrdigucn. its 

 bachelors going around on the parade ground of the Keef. 



Three young bulls are still waiting patiently behind. Many of the cows in the 

 harems are young females. 



ROOKERY MANAGEMENT. 



It would not do to give Treasury agents general authority to shoot idle or 

 superfluous bulls, though many of these should be disposed of. Such action would not 

 be safe except under skilled direction and after a thorough study of the needs of the 

 herd. Such work should follow the appointment of a superintendent of the herd and 

 be under his control. 



Such a superintendent might do much in the way of caring for the rookeries, clearing 

 out the bowlders from the runways of the bachelors, forming these into low stone 

 walls between the runways and the harems and even at the back. These walls should 

 not be too artificial in their make up. They need not be high, only inctonvenient to 

 cross. This would allow of egress and ingress, but by rendering both difficult the 

 animals would uitt w ander across them in an aimless manner. They might serve as a 

 means of preventing the straying of pui)s, which are often found half starved or dead 

 in the hauling grounds, where they have wandered away with the bachcloi'S and 

 become lost from their mothers. 



Stones might be rolled down from the slopes above certain places, as at Tolstoi 

 and the Reef, to cover bare, sandy tracts, which are now detinitely known to form 

 desitli traps. These places furnish unimpeded opportunity for the movements of the 

 bulls, and the luckless pups wandering about over them are trodden upon. Where 

 the ground is full of bowlders the bull can not move so easily and the ])iiii can crawl 

 under the edges of the stones and tind protection. With S(mie expense many of the 

 bad places could thus be fixed. Eock can be found within a reasonable distance of 

 any of the defective breeding grounds. 



There are pools in some of the harems that become tilled with rain water, and the 

 excrement of the animals mingling with it produces a fearful stench and tilth. These 

 should be tilled up with sand and strewn with rocks or else drained. I'.ven in the 

 rocky areas are pools above high tide which become tilled with rain water and likewise 

 filthy. Openings might be drilled into these so they might di-ain off. It may not 

 make any difference to the seal as if is, but while a hog might not object to a tilthy 

 pen, the breeder who lets him live in one is not thought well of. 



On some of the exposed rookeries if might be iiossibie to so jule up the rocks on 

 the water line as to niake a protected pool, replenished by the sea, in which the pu|ps 

 might learn to swim guarded from the force of the waves. At the angle of Tolstoi 



' The total number of cows in July was .">50. Tlie count of cow s is reasonably accurate, but a 

 count of pups is imi)os!<il>le from tlie li:ink, and is (litiicuU from below, as they lie under the bowlders 

 out of sight, 



