68 fur-seal herd of alaska. 



Part 3. 



Charts of census of ftir-seal herd, July 10-20, 1913, by Elliott and Gallagher, special agents House Com- 

 mittee on Expenditures in the Department of Commerce. 



CENSUS OF THE NORTH ROOKERY. 



[Field notes to accompany the chart and survey of condition of North Eookery, St. George Island, Fribi 

 lov group, .luly 18, 1!"13, by Henry W. Elliott and A. F. Gallagher, special agents House Committee on 

 Expenditures in the Department of Commerce.] 



(The condition of the rook3ry, when, comparison is made with that 

 of 1890, is founded upon the pubhshed official survey made by Henry 

 W. Elliott, July 10, 1890, and duly published as House Document 

 No. 175, 54tli Congress, first session, pages 51, 53, and 54.) 



We begin our survey of this rookery by taking up the chart of 1890, 

 at station L, under which no sign of the 1890 cliff belt of breeding 

 seals is in evidence to-day; nor is there tiny evidence of the hauling 

 of any seals in the "ravine" which we found so well indicated on the 

 chart of 1890. 



From this we proceed to station K, and between station L and sta- 

 tion K and right on the point under station K we find 11 actiA^e 

 bulls and about 400 cows, with 2 idle bulls. Proceeding from 

 station K to station J, we find an irregular series of scattered harems-, 

 consisting of a total of 16 bulls and about 610 cows; no young males 

 in sight, or idle bulls. 



We proceed from station J to station I, and within the lines of 

 the 1890 survey we find 7 bulls and about 149 cows. From station 

 I to station H is the finest massing on this rookery, and we estimate 

 therein 30 bulls and about 3,500 cows: still we see no ''idle" bulls or 

 "polsecatchie" on or around this section. 



From station H we proceed to station G, and between those two 

 stations we find a "pod" of holluschickie containing about 400 to 

 450, consisting chiefly of yearlings, with, say, 50 2-year-oIds, a few 

 3-year olds, and three or four 6-year-old bulls, and as many "polse- 

 catchie" or 5-year-olds. At the extreme point (G) we find two bulls 

 and two harems containing about 36 cows. 



From station G we go to station F and find 6 bulls and about 250 

 cows, all at the surf margin between; no idle or young bulls. 



Now proceeding from station F to station E we find 18 bulls and 

 about 1,200 cows; no idle or young bulls. 



From station E to station D we observe about 20 bulls and about 

 550 cows, with one 7 or 8 year old idle bull, but no "polsecatchie." 



From station D to station C we find nothing, it being an abandoned 

 bluff. From station C to station B we find nothing, and from B 

 to A every vestige of the life of the 1890 survey is eliminated. 



At station A, looking back, we have this to say: The North Rookery 

 presents the appearance, as compared with 1890, of a complete elimi- 

 nation of the surplus breeding male life, the young 6-year-old bulls, 

 the "polsecatchie," and the holluschickie, that swarmed on this 

 ground in 1874 and in 1890 were relatively there. ^ 



1 As this is the chief rookery of St. George and one which has had perhaps more attention paid to it 

 than all of the others, on accoimt of its being so close to the village, the followuig notes made of it in 1890 

 contrasting its condition with that of 1874 are tim"lv (p. •'it, H. Do3. 17.5, .54th Con',', 1st sess): 



"I came upon this breeding ground to-day, .Tuly 19, 18'.K3, after an absence of just 16 years. I find the 

 topography unchanged, the hauling grounds all "grass grown, together with the usual" flowering plants 

 which seem to foUow (on all of these declining rookeries) the abandonment of hitherto polished rock and 

 hard-?wept soil traveled over and laid upon by the .seals. The breeding animals on the several areas of this 



