ROOKERY MANAGEMENT. 397 



with English Bay thousands of pups were seen the day after the big blow, and when 

 the sarf was still very high, swimming in the open sea front. Some of them were 

 constantly bein^ cacriad out too far and deposited far below on the beach at English 

 Bay, whence they would go back aind swim up along the shore, each breaker throwing 

 them up on the rocks, from which they would, scramble back into the water. There 

 are on some of the rookeries pools of the kind suggestedf and they are frequented 

 and thoroughly enjoyed by the pups. 



On some of the rookeries, as Tolstoi, Gorbatch, and Polovina, there seems to be a 

 lack of openings or runways through which the bachelors can i)ass in reaching the 

 hauling grounds in the rear of the harems. It is the constant tendency of the bachelors 

 to pass down through the harems instead of going around to the ends. The intrusion 

 of a bachelor or idle bull upon the harems in the breeding season causes the greatest 

 confusion. Each bull, sometimes two or three at a time, will rush at him and either 

 drive him back or throw him bodily from harem to harem until he gets to the water. 

 The rushes of the bulls in the early season after bachelors or against their neighbors, 

 or to prevent the wandering of restless cows, is the cause of death to pups in a large 

 number of cases. 



This problem of rookery management is one of great importance and one which 

 the Government has as yet failed to take seriously. It should have been provided 

 for at the outset and will certainly need immediate attention if the herd receives 

 proper protection at sea. 



AUGUST 10. 



Dr. Jordan, Mr. Clark, Mr. Macoun, Professor Thompson, and Judge Crowley 

 visited Northeast Point for the purpose of counting the dead pups. 



On the way, a stop was made at Polovina,' and Mr. Clark and Professor Thompson 

 counted the dead pups on the main rookery, beginning at the angle near the sand 

 beach where the bachelors haul outj Dr. Jordan beginning at the northern end, 

 counted Little Polovina and the cliffs to Polovina Point. 



LITTLE POLOVINA. 



Two large and very ugly pups were seen among the bachelors at Little Polovina 

 and were carried to the nearest harem. » Virgins are very numerous, hauled out on 

 level ground behind. 



Little Polovina and the portion of Polovina under the cliffs are largely made up 

 of the flat tops of lava columns. These give way to areas covered with bowlders and 

 rocky lava holes farther south. The smooth columns are rather unfavorable, but the 

 9 pups dead at the extreme end on these columns seem to be mostly starved ones, who 

 have strayed from the large pods in which they belonged. One of them is now dying. 

 The rookery on the whole is a very favorable one. Only 47 pups in all were found dead. 



Mr. True's observations suffer from being closely confined to Lukanin and Kitovi 

 rookeries. Different things happen in massed and differently placed rookeries. 



On Little Polovina is seen a semi-albino pup, light russet brown, with pink 

 flippers and eyes, a fine fellow, strong, but partly or wholly blind. 



Much soft light-yellow excrement is to be seen everywhere. The rookery ground 

 is very foul scented from this and urine. Pups can get down to the sea in most places 

 here only through runways or slides. The cliffs are vertical to the height of 20 or 30 

 feet. 



