54 



THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



If the observer will glance at the map, he will see that the i)arade ground in question lies directly over and 

 about 150 feet above, the breeding-seals immediately under it. The sand-dune tracts which border the great 

 body of the rookery seem to check the "holluschickie" from hauling to the rear, for sand drifts here, in a locality so 

 high and exposed to the full force of the wind, with more rapidity and consequently more disagreeable energy to 

 the seals than anywhere else on the island. 



A comical feature of this rookery is the appearance of the foxes in the chinks under the parade-ground and 

 interstices of the clifis; their melancholy barking and short yelps of astonishment, as we walk about, contrast quite 

 sensibly with the utter indifference of the seals to our presence. 



From Tolstoi at this point, sweeping around three miles to Zapadnie, is the broad sand-reach of English bay, 

 upon which and back over its gently rising flats are the great hauling-grouuds of the "holluschickie", which I have 

 indicated on the general map, and to which I made reference in a previous section of this chapter. Looking at the 

 myriads of " bachelor seals" spread out in their restless hundreds and Iiundreds of thousands upon this ground, one 

 feels the utter impotency of verbal description, and reluctantly shuts his note- and sketch-books to gaze ui)on 

 it with renewed fascination and perfect heli)lessness. 



Tolstoi rookery has attained, I think, its utmost limit of expansion. The seals have already pushed themselves 

 as far out upon the sand at the north as they can or are willing to go, while the abrupt cliffs, hanging over more 

 than one-half of the sea-margin, shut out all access to the rear for the breeding-seals. The natives said that 

 this rookery had increased very much during the last four or five years prior to the date of my making the 

 accompanying survey. If it continues to increase, the fact can be instantly noted, by checking off the ground and 

 cora])aring it with the sketch-map herewith presented. Tolstoi rookery has 3,000 feet of sea-margiu, with an average 

 depth of 1.30 feet, making ground for 225,000 breeding-seals and their young. 



Zapao'ie rookery. — From Tolstoi, before going north, we turn our attention directly to Zapadnie on the west, 

 a little over two mUes as the crow flies, across English bay, which lies between them. Here again we find another 



magnificent rookery, with features 

 peculiar to itself, consisting of great 

 wings separating, one from the other, 

 by a short stretch of five or six 

 hundred feet of the shunned saud- 

 reach which makes a landing and a 

 beach just between them. The north- 

 ern Zapadnie lies mostly on the gently 

 sloping, but exceedingly rocky, flats 

 of a rough volcanic ridge which drojis 

 there to the sea ; it, too, has an ap- 

 l^roximation to the Tolstoi depth, but 

 not to such a solid extent; it is the 

 one rookery which I have reason to 

 believe has sensibly increased since 

 my first survey in 1872. It has over- 

 flowed from the boundary which I 

 laid down at that time, and has tilled 

 up for nearly half a mile, a long rib- 

 bon-like strip of breeding-ground to 

 the northeast from the hill slope, end- 

 ing at a point where a few detached 

 rocks jut out, and the sand takes 

 exclusive possession of the rest of 

 the coast. These rocks aforesaid are 

 called by the natives "N^earhpahskie 

 kammin", because it is a favorite 

 resoit for the hair-seals. Although 

 this extension of a very decided mar- 

 gin of breeding-gi'ound, over half a 

 mile in length, between 1872 and 

 1870, does not, in the aggregate, 

 point to a very large increased number, still it is a gratifying evidence that the rookeries, instead of teniling to 

 diminish iu the sligliest, are more than holding their own. 



Zapadnie, in itself, is something like the Reef plateau on its eastern face, for it slo})es up gradually and gently 

 to the parade-plateau on top — a parade-ground not so smooth, however, being very rough and rocky, but which the 



