362 THE FUE §EALS OF THE PEIBILOP ISLANDS. 



positions; sometimes because they are late arrivals. The killing closed this year on 

 July 27, and is never continued later than the 1st of August. Those arriving after 

 that time are exempt from driving, and as killable seals are found to the last, it is not 

 unreasonable to suppose that some arrive after August 1 for the first time. 



ZAPADNI GULLY. 



There is a long shallow gulch in Zapadni, north of the middle part winding down 

 to Southwest Bay. There are many virgins in the last 4 or 5 harems at the top with 

 many regular cows among them. This long gulch is a concave sandy track where 

 many pups gather and where many bulls fight. It was the scene of constant fighting 

 at the time of the original counting of the rookery. Many dead pups are here. 

 Ninety are counted trodden in the sand; mostly, but not all, small and rotten. 

 Probably 120 could be found. There are no rocks to hide them. As I stand on the 

 parapet above I can see over the whole space, but have no glass. One newly-born 

 pup IS in the gulcli, and several pods of from 30 to 100 older pups are playing about. 

 This Zapadni gnlly' is a place where pups are easily killed as well as easily seen. 

 Very few dead pups are to be seen on Zapadni except on the sandy gully. The live 

 ones pile up and sleep on the dead ones. 



There are few wet cows here, so far from the sea. Virgin cows that can get away 

 dash for the sea. One bull seizes a cow and brings her back. Forty of them are 

 going down the canyon now like holostiaki. 



I come over through the quarrelsome bulls to a green cliff over the gully, a better 

 point of observation. I can see more dead pups here even than on Tolstoi. The 

 conditions in the latter place are the same, but the sands are less concave and broader, 

 with the side, not the end, open to the sea. There are 50 harems in Zapadni gully. 



Three other dead pups are seen among the bachelors. 



Where so few instincts are demanded as in the case of the seal they are necessarily 

 very intense. Knowledge of place, of mother, of pup, of reproduction, of catching 

 fish, of protection and retention of harem, are the principal things the seal has to 

 know. These he knows automatically, each one as well as another. 



Another dead cow and a dead bull lie rotting; and more dead pups are among 

 the bachelors, 2 on the rocks. Doubtless there are more dead pups crushed among the 

 rocks than appear. It is as easy to see into a grizzly bear's lair as into harems in 

 the center of the great masses. 



Two very little cows, probably virgins, are on the edge of harems among bachelors 

 guarded by a half bull. Another is seen in the northernmost harem. 



The 2 virgins and the half bull all take to the water. The bull tries to round 

 them up in the sea; seizes one and tries to drag her ashore, but fails. The other 

 tries to get ashore and he prevents her. There is no doubt that these cows are virgins. 

 They are still rounded up in the water, though one cow keeps trying to get ashore. 

 A little cow lies on the rocks wet. She dives into the sea out of sight. A bull tries 

 to catch her. Another bull close by guards a cow with a pup and a virgin. The 

 virgin gets away to sea. The virgin 2-year-olds are plainly visible everywhere, but 

 there is nothing to be seen on Zapadni that looks like a yearling cow. 



' When this gully was counted on August 14 more than 600 pups were found dead in it. 



