EVIDENCES OF DECLINE. 107 
of Kitovi, when only about half as many cows were present, shows to the casual 
observer vastly more animals than one taken on the 15th. This condition of things 
continues throughout the remainder of the summer, the cows becoming more scarce 
and the pups more conspicuous. 
THE TRUE VALUE OF PHOTOGRAPHS. 
It is not the purpose of this discussion to belittle the value of photographs. 
They have their place and importance, but it is not their function to measure the 
decline which the fur-seal herd is at present suffering, or has suffered in the past from 
year to year. By a comparison of photographs taken at widely different dates, some 
of them in July, others in August, Professor Thompson, in his report for 1896, sought 
to prove that no decline had occurred in the herd between the seasons of 1896 and 
1895. In view of this fact it becomes necessary for us to define the importance and 
limitations of photographs as a measure of decline in rookery life. 
Photographs, in our judgment, are of value only as showing the large results or 
changes which come through long periods of time. The photographs of the rookeries 
of the Pribilof Islands show us plainly that its herd of seals has suffered a heavy 
diminution since 1892. Those for the years 1894 and 1895 show clearly the disastrous 
results of the resumption of pelagic sealing under the regulations of the Paris award. 
Between the seasons of 1896 and 1897 photographs can only be trusted to record 
change where breeding ground has been actually abandoned. Of the magnitude of 
the decrease which the herd has suffered in the past five years photographs afford 
abundant evidence, but they give no measure either of the total decrease nor of its 
rate from year ta year. Finally, for comparison only photographs taken at middle of 
July can be used. 
TOWNSEND'S CROSSES. 
One of the most definite evidences of decline is to be found in the shrinkage of 
certain large breeding masses on such rookeries as Tolstoi, Zapadui, and Vostochni. 
This is most plainly shown in the relation of the breeding masses to certain crosses 
which Mr. Townsend, in 1895, painted to mark their outward extension. During 
the season of 1896 these crosses were in no case reached at the corresponding period. 
In some cases the breeding masses fell away from them from 50 to 100 feet. In 1897 
the shrinkage was measured by yards where in 1896 it was measured by feet. 
SHRINKAGE OF BREEDING AREA. 
Another positive evidence of decrease is to be found in the disappearance of 
certain small patches of breeding seals noted and marked on the rookery maps of 
1895, but which were not to be found in 1896. One of these groups of harems was at 
the southern end of Vostochni. Two others were at the extremities of the breeding 
ground, known as Zapadni Reef. 
TOLSTOI SAND FLAT, ARDIGUEN, ETC. 
In 1897 this abandonment of breeding territory was still more noticeable as a 
result of the minute inspection of the two seasons. On the sand flat of Tolstoi but a 
small fraction of the area occupied in 1896 was covered this year, and practically no 
seals were on the slopes behind. At the head of the “slide” on Ardiguen last year 
were three harems, aggregating 78 cows, a8 seen on the 14th of July. Making the 
necessary allowance for absentees, there must have been an actual total of at least 
