166 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 



division separately and compared the figures. For the first section (the southern), 

 which could be observed best, our count agreed very closely (viz, 660 and 065), but for 

 the two others Mr. Barrett-Hamilton's figures were considerably below mine (about 

 300) ; mine being the higher ones, he accepted them. Following the various groups 

 of female seals in the binocle I could distinguish in the 



Seals. 



South section (43 + 665) 708 



Middle section 1, 034 



North section 848 



Total (Kishotchnaya), 2,590 female seals, or, in round numbers, 2,600 females. 

 ]So allowance was made for seals which could not be seen. The number of these can 

 only be guessed at, but including the very few seen in the water it is probably safe to 

 say that there were altogether nearly 3,000 female seals on Kishotchnaya on July 16, 

 1897. This is also the figure I should have estimated offhand, and agrees pretty well 

 with the estimate made July 13, viz, 2,200, and the large number seen in the water off 

 the rookery. Eight hundred seals in the water occupy a large area, and this figure is 

 probably over rather than under the actual number seen by us that day. 



Three thousand, then, will about represent the maximum number of females 

 present at any one time during the height of the season at Kishotchnaya, as the day 

 was an ideal one for the seals to remain ashore. The weather was perfect, comfortably 

 cool, cloudy, no rain, wind light southeast, half water, rising tide. 



At the Reef we found on the 16th the same state of things as on Kishotchnaya, 

 viz, a denser accumulation of the females on shore and none to speak of in the water; 

 consequently the rookery looked fuller than it did three days previously at our first 

 visit, and the gaps between the patches appeared more or less closed up. The capacity 

 of Eeef rookery for this season (1897) was undoubtedly at its highest to-day, yet that 

 characteristic "band" across the "sands" was not there, not even a trace, as the few 

 individuals which we had noticed on the 13th had now left it. Nothing attests better 

 the decrease of this rookery since I visited it in 1895. 



Another point brought out by my inspection of the Bering Island rookeries in 

 1895 was the relative dearth of old bulls as compared with the condition on the Copper 

 Island rookeries. The disproportion of the sexes was still evident on North Rookery 

 in 1897, though much less marked than in 1895, on account of the decrease of the 

 females. It would be waste of time and paper to try to present figures to demonstrate 

 it, as the counts that have been made are utterly worthless. There may have been 

 150 bulls on the Reef this year, or there may have been 200; there is no way of 

 telling with certainty. The rookery had of necessity to be watched from such a 

 distance that only a fraction of the bulls can be seen. 



On Kishotchnaya the conditions are somewhat better, but the result of bur count 

 is not very satisfactory, as a recital of onr experience on July 13 will show. The fact 

 is, that the bulls are often so concealed while lying down among the females that it is 

 impossible to see them, unless they are roused so as to stand up, and such a rousing 

 can only be affected here in a few instances. A count of the bulls actually seen is 

 therefore sure to be considerably under the true number. This was very forcibly 

 shown during our inspection of Kishotchnaya on July 13. We had counted 7 bulls 

 in the southern section, when Mr. Rodger, Professor Thompson's assistant, accidentally 

 stampeded a portion of the females. At once 3 bulls, hitherto overlooked, got up in 



