oe im EE Of ae SS THE ROOWERIES OF THE COMMANDER ISLANDS SEASON OF 18097, ' By LEONHARD STEJNEGER. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1897. ‘ PT ih sae th Ba Sn y OS cies inert cat (a yi We Oak ON THE ROOWERIES QF THE COVIMANDER IAMS, SiS © iN OR 1S oig By HLEONHARD STEINEGER: WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. ESI dee e , a) ~* % NY iN ONS LA SINS G ») © 2 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Document No. 1997. Office of Secretary, Special Agents’ Division By transter SEP 17 1908 ° © ceno8 PAB OR CONTENTS. 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Valet a] PuUny Ha Stele aes ‘ Viet fist ; " ‘ i PRA : ‘ ey Avia fw i) TMT Ne Adel Seale SF } ) i mt Ree rf Monch INSPECTION OF THE COMMANDER ISLANDS FUR- SEAL ROOKERIES, 1897. ‘By LEONHARD STEJNEGER. ITINERARY. Leaving Washington on June 5, [arrived in Tacoma, Wash., on June 12, when, on the following day, in company with Mr. Lucas, I proceeded in the steamship City of Topeka to Sitka, Alaska. Upon our arrival there, June 20, I at once embarked in the United States revenue-cutter Grant, Captain Munger, commanding. Departed from Sitka the follow- ing morning; arrived in Unalaska June 27. After coaling, the Grant, on the 30th, proceeded to the Commander Islands, landing me at Nikolski, Bering Island, on July 7. The British commissioner, Prof. D’Arcy Thompson, arriving on July 11, he, Mr. Barrett-Hamilton, and myself proceeded per dog sledges to the North Rookery, 12 miles distant, making an examination of the condition of this rookery. Professor Thompson then departed for Copper Island, while Mr. Barrett-Hamilton and I remained on Bering Island, deeming the closer inspection of the rookeries of the latter island, particularly the South Rookery, of higher importance. Neither the administrator nor the assistant administrator having as yet arrived on the islands, it was considered best to await the arrival of the latter, Mr. N.S. Wachsmuth, in order to obtain the necessary permission for a protracted stay and a thorough examination of the south rookery. In the meantime, Mr. Barrett-Hamilton and I under- took another dog-sledge expedition to the north rookery on July 16, which was in every way satisfactory. Upon Mr. Wachsmuth’s arrival we commenced to make the necessary preparations for the trip to the South Rookery; a boatand crew wereobtained with some difticulty, tents rented, and camp equipage purchased, and on July 19,in the morning, we set out for the South Rookery. Although only 20 miles distant from Nikolski, it took five days to get there, on account of stress of weather. The nights we had to pass on the beaches, sleeping under the over- turned boat. Wet and worn, we landed at the rookery on July 24, and went at once into camp. Until the 30th we studied this rookery every day very carefully at all the stages of the tide and in all kinds of weather, and asatisfactory count of the pups was made. -On the latter date the Imperial Russian steamship Yakut arrived off the rookery, announcing the arrival in Nikolski of Mr. Grebnitski, the administrator, and offering to give us passage to the village, an offer we gladly accepted as our best chance of returning from the rookery. 5 6 - ROOKERIES OF THE COMMANDER ISLANDS. Upon meeting Mr. Grebnitski, he expressed a desire to have me go to the North Rookery with him by boat, and as I was informed that Her Britannic Majesty’s ship Linnet, which in the meantime had come to convey Mr. Barrett- Hamilton to Copper Island, had no accomodations, I decided to wait for the next Russian cruiser, and to accompany Mr. Grebnitski meanwhile to North Rookery. Press of other official busi- ness and unpropitious weather prevented the plan of visiting the North Rookery from being carried out, and on the 15th of August [ conse- quently availed myself of the kind offer of the captain of the Imperial Russian cruiser Koreets to give me passage to Copper Island, where L was landed on the following day at Preobrazhenskoye village. It being deemed impracticable to land at the rookery village then on account of the surf, it mattered little that no boat could be obtained until the 19th, on which day | hired a boat and crew, arrived the day previous, and sailed to Glinka on the same day.. The Glinka rookeries were examined during the following days, but the sealing season having been now closed, I could obtain no boat passage to Karabelni and was glad to be able to get away from Glinka to Preobrazhenskoye in a small boat on August 24. I was thus prevented from inspecting the Karabelni rookeries, a failure, however, of but little importance, on account of their comparative insignificance and the lateness of the season. On August31 the Yakut called at Preobrazhenskoye, and, the captain offering to convey me to Bering Island and from there to Petropaulski, Ll accepted gladly, that I might avail myself of the earliest opportunity of returning home, Mr. Barrett-Hamilton having already left the island on August 19. I arrived in Petropaulski on September 4, but found no vessel going to America or Japan until October 20. The Russian Seal Skin Company’s steamer Hotix, Capt. C. E. Lindquist, in the meantime making a trip to the seal islands for the purpose of bringing back the skins, | proceeded in her, in order to inquire into the question of the mortality of the seal pups on North Rookery, Bering Island. I conse- quently left Petropaulski again on September 22 and arrived at the rookery in question the 27th. So unfavorable was the weather, that the - Kotik had to return to Petropaulski, after nearly four weeks’ absence, without having accomplished the taking off of the skins. It was my original intention to return in that vessel to Japan, but as she must make another attempt, which is more than likely to take at least two weeks more, I obtained passage in the Japanese steamer Taiyu Maru from Petropaulski to Hakodate, Japan, leaving the former port on October 20 and arriving at the latter October 25, whence I proceeded by railroad to Tokio and Yokohama. The first mail’ steamer brought me to San Francisco on November 27; onthe 29th I conferred with Dr. Jordan, at Stanford University, and on December 5 I arrived in Wash- ington, D. C. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. T have to acknowledge with thanks the assistance and courtesies, both in transportation and otherwise, which | have received from the captains and officers of the United States revenue-cutter Grant, Capt. F. M. Munger, commanding, the Imperial Russian cruiser HKoreets, Cap- tain Serebrennikof, commanding, and the imperial Russian transport Yakut, Capt. 1. V. Sukhotin, commanding. For important information and various assistance I am also under obligations to the administrator of the Commander Islands, Mr. N. A. Grebnitski, and to the assistant administrator, Mr. N.S. Wachsmuth. ROOKERIES OF THE COMMANDER ISLANDS. q To the Russian Seal Skin Company, the lessees of the Commander Islands, I am indebted for invaluable help and hospitality rendered by the general agent, Mr. Constantine M. Grunwaldt; the local agents on the islands, Mr. E. Kluge on Bering Island and Mr. A. Kantor on Cop- per Island, and last, but not least, to the captains of the company’s vessels, Mr. C. KE. Lindquist of the steamship Kotik and Mr. D. Grén- berg of the barkentine Bering, as well as by Mr. P. H. Powers, the company’s agent on board the steamship Taiyu Maru. INTRODUCTORY REMARNSS. The inspection of the Commander Island rookeries during 1897 was beset by many difficulties aud was at times not devoid of danger, chietly on account of the lack of proper means of transportation. It is greatly to be regretted that no vessel could have been spared from the United States Revenue Service or Navy to stay about the islands during the sealing season. Much more work could then have been accomplished and much valuable time have been saved, which was now lost in waiting for the uncertain visits of the foreign men-of-war or the company’s steamer. It must be remembered that the coasts of these islands have no harbors, that the weather is usually stormy and foggy, that the rookeries are situated 12 to 20 miles away from the villages, and that landing at these places is often impossible or dangerous for weeks at a time. Thus the steamer Kotik this year was forced to return to Petropaulski without having been able to land boats at the rookeries of Glinka and Karabelni on Copper Island, although she was more than three weeks about attempting the feat. Coasting in small open boats along these stormy islands is neither pleasant nor without danger. It thus took us five days to make the distance of 20 miles from Nikolski to South Rookery, on Bering Island; five days of storm, heavy swell, rain, dangerous surf, and long, weary, wet nights on sandy or rocky beaches, with no other shelter than the overturned boat. Nor was the sail from Preobrazhenskoye to Glinka and back without its harships. Then the long, dreary waiting for the ships, the arrival of which can not be known beforehand within weeks, with the necessity of being present and prepared to embark imme- diately. Under such circumstances work is difficult and at times impossible, and the trip, which in addition involves rough passages at sea for weeks and weeks in vessels not meant for passenger transpor- tation, is anything but a pleasure excursion. CONDITION OF THE COMMANDER ISLANDS SEA ROOKERIES DURING 1897. - BERING ISLAND. North Rookery.—It will be remembered that in my official report for 1895, entitled The Russian Fur-Seal Islands,! [ made it a point that while the Copper Island rookeries in 1895 showed tremendous falling off in the number of breeding females as compared with what I saw there in 1882-83 the North Rookery of Bering Island was much less affected, although of course a great diminution was quite perceptible even then. As an evidence I mentioned the general outline of the breeding mass of seals, and more especially a characteristic feature of the same, viz, a ‘“‘band” of harems across the northern end of the “sands.” This “band” was well shown both in photographs taken in 1885 and 1895. 1 See U. S. Fish Commission Bulletin for 1896, Article I, pages 1 to 148. 8 ROOKERIES OF THE COMMANDER ISLANDS. In 1896 my visit to thisrookery was so late that I had no opportunity to institute an intelligent comparison with the conditions of 1895, but during the present year (1897) my inspection was contemporaneous with that of 1895, at the height of the season, and consequently fully com- parable. t As a result of this inspection | am able to demonstrate a very great decrease in the breeding females on North Rookery since 1895./ This rookery was visited by me twice during the height of the season of 1897; first on July 13, in company with Prof, D’Arey Thompson and Mr. Barrett- Hamilton ; the second time on July 16, in company with the latter gentleman. On July 13, at our first.visit, the weather was very warm, probably as much as + 64° F., with bright sunshine, and at the time of our inspection it was very low water. Quitealarge number of females were in the water off the Reef Rookery, but even allowing liberally for these, it was at once evident that the number of females had greatly decreased since I inspected the rookery in 1895. The characteristic outline of the breeding mass had not only disappeared, there being hardly a trace of the “‘band,” but there was a general thinness of the ranks, and the “massed” patches had shriv- eled up to an ominous degree. The best portion is still the western side of the ‘‘sands,” but even here the decrease was noticeable, while to the north of this the density showed the greatest falling off. The “sands” were fringed all around, though on the east side there were now actual breaks in the continuity of the line. As already noted, a large number of females were in the water off the rookery, both on the western and eastern side of the reef. However, on July 15, 1895, the date when I photographed this rookery, the weather conditions were exactly similar, viz, a hot, sunshiny day, with hardly a breeze pebmaeiney and the seals in "the water were then equally numerous. (see pl. 22, Buss. Fur-Seal Isls., and the note referring to the same in the list of illus- trations, p. 138), The conditions are, therefore, absolutely comparable. Tt was noted that the pnps had already podded to some extent, but the season was equally far advanced on July 15, 1895. Professor Thompson suggested that we make a rough estimate of the number of females actually on the ground (agreeing, as he did, with me that a regular count of this rookery isimpracticable). We consequently counted independently a section at the eastern base of the “sands,” and both found it to contain about 600 females and 10 bulls. Professor Thompson’s estimate that the total occupied area of the rookery is fifteen times greater than that of the seals counted is possibly not very far from the truth, the result being about 9,000 to 10,000 females then on the rookery and about 150 bulls. We could not get close enough to the seals to ascertain whether there was any great mortality among the new-born pups on the rookery ground proper. On the western edge of the Ladiginski Peninsula we counted — about 15 dead pups, most of them with the hair already off. Mr. Barrett-Hamilton suggested that some of them might have died in yes- terday’s drive (the first drive during the season), but the hair on the best-preserved pup was already quite loose, and we all Bereed that it had been dead for several days. We next went to Kishotchnaya and found there a similar state of altairs, There was not a seal above the steep bevel of the beach; not one on the upper, flat, shingly portion which I have called the “ parade.” In 1895 the two lateral sections of this rookery extended a considerable distance backward, leaving the middle section bare to the bevel, but ROOKERIES OF THE COMMANDER ISLANDS. ~ 9 all the harems situated there had now disappeared and the number of seals appeared nearly one-half less. In 1895 [ had to keep well con- cealed behind the large stone so as not to disturb the nearest harems, which were scarcely 10 yards away. To-day Professor Thompson stood upright on the top of this rock without the seals on the beach even noticing his presence. A cursory and rather superficial count of the females gave about 600 for the northern and 700 for the southern section. Allowing 900 for the middle section, the total was about 2,200 females, certainly a Maximum estimate. During our visit three days later, July 16, 1897, there was no change in the appearance of this part of the rookery (Kishotchnaya) except that there were but very few seals in the water, and a correspondingly large number on shore. On account of the unfavorable wind the guard whom the starshena sent with us would not allow us to go as far as we ourselves deemed safe and prudent. Mr. Barrett-Hamilton being very anxious to have a count of this rookery made as far as practicable, I agreed to undertake it jointly with him, though protesting that the con- ditions were such that not even an approximately accurate count could be made. I willingly admit, however, that on account of the great reduction in the number of the females since 1895, a count is somewhat more feasible now than then. For this count I can claim no more accuracy than for a well-considered estimate based upon my experience in actually counting and estimating the rookeries on the Pribilof Islands, and it is of no value except as a check upon such an estimate. We divided the Kishotchnaya rookery into three sections according to whether the seals were lying outside the two rocky ledges or between them. We counted each 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 665), 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. Soubhesec inom (4 Selo 6G) eyecare eee ate ee seen Ee aaa a 20, al nO pata ae eed Aen 708 Middle section - 2. 24552. 22 22% BS, 2 aie SEA ue a eRe Re tata DORE UL el ae 1, 034 INOTGEhESe ChTOMI eye es eu whee cM pRaeep 2 Gin, enna aero eae Ber eeific sys Saf te) Renate Ma eta pe ge 848 Total (Kishotchnaya) 2,590 female seals, or, in round numbers, 2,600 females. No ailowance 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 was 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 lar ge 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 Kishotehnaya, viz, a denser accumulation of the females on shore and none, to speak of, in the water; consequently the rockery looked fuller than it did three days previously at our first visit, and the gaps between 10 ROOKERIES OF THE COMMANDER $ ISLANDS. the patches appeared more or less closed up. ‘The capacity of Reef 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 18'5, on account of the decrease of the females. It would be waste of time and paper to try to present figures to demon- strate 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 frac- tion of the bulls can be seen. On Kishotchnaya the conditions are somewhat better, but the result of our count is not very satisfactory, as a recital of our experience on July 13 will show. The fact is, that the bulls are often so concealed while lymg 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 effected 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 15. We had counted 7 bulls in the southern section, when Mr. Rogers, Professor Thompson’s assistant, accidentally stampeded a portion of the females. At once 3 bulls, hitherto overlooked, got up in full view, and Rogers, to use Mr. Barrett-Hamilton’s own words, ‘‘by stampeding them added 3 bulls to my lst.” The general proposition, however, that there are still proportionally much fewer males on Bering Island than on Copper Island holds good (even after the killing of a number of them last year on the latter island) and is conceded by all. Whether this comparative dearth of males on Bering Island is par- ticularly injurious to the condition of the herd will find a negative answer in the South Rookery of Bering Island, as suggested by me on page 64 of my Russian Fur-Seal Islands. South Rookery.—In view of the above suggestion I was ordered to pay special attention to the South Rookery during 1897. There being no inhabitable house at this rookery, we were obliged to camp in the neighborhood, and from July 24 to 50 we (Mr. Barrett- Hamilton and myself) visited the rookery two or three times a day. it will be remembered that this rookery is very smali and situated under a steep bluff, which makes it possible to count the seals with some degree of accuracy. My visit in 1895 was too short to allow an actual count of the females, but I estimated their number at *‘ about 600,” while the maximum number of sikatchi, or bulls, was said by good authority to have been only 5 during that season. In my report upon that visit T urged the advisability of undertaking an exact count of the young ones the following year, in order to ascertain whether these few bulls had been sufficient for the impregnation of the whole number of females. I myself arrived too late in 1896 to be able to do it, and nobody else took up the suggestion. It was ascertained, however, that no more than 6 sikatchi had frequented the rookery that year. ROOKERIES OF THE COMMANDER ISLANDS. 11 In 1897 Mr. Barrett-Hamilton agreed to undertake the count in com- mon with myself. At first we intended to drive the pups off in a kody and count them in that way, but there were various objections to this plan; first, that the driving would materiaily interfere with the sealing at this rookery, the bachelors hauling up among the females and being culled from among these; second, that so many rot the pups were in the water during the day (at low water) that it would be impossible to gather them all together on land, while in the evening when they all came ashore, water was high, thus preventing any driving at all. We relinguished this plan the more willingly as we found it quite feasible to make a fairly ac-urate count from the bluff overlooking the rookery. Our general mode of procedure was first to define small separate groups of pups on shore and to count cach one of these separately, then compare our figures, and, in case of disagreement, to count them over and over again until we arrived at nearly the same figures. We then counted those lying among the females nursing, those on separate rocks in the water, and those swimming. After a series of counts we found that only those made in the evening at high water when all the pups were ashore were of any value. Aun average of a selection of our best counts (7) gives 526 pups (minimum, 516; maximum, 533), which may be accepted as nearly exact. Similar counts of the females were made regularly. As a matter of course, the figures for the various counts of the females vary very much more than those of the pups for two obvious reasons: First, because the actual number of females present on the rookery varies greatly from day to day, while that of the pups is constant, except for the gradual increase due to new births or slight decrease due to death; second, becausethere nearly always were a number of females swimming off the rockery, the number of which had to be more or less closely estimated. Nevertheless, the average of nine of our best counts may be taken as a fair daily aver- age of the breeding females present at this rookery during our visit in 1897, this average being 449. The experience of last year on the Pribilof Islands, where it was found that the number of pups on the rookeries was nearly twice as great as the number of females counted as present in the harems at the height of the season, had prepared us for the above results, viz, a greater number of pups than of cows counted. On the other hand, it would be very erroneous were we to take the above number of females and to that apply a correction derived from the census of St. Paul Island, in order to find out the number of pups which ought to have been on the South Rookery in 1897, for the reason that the above figure of 449 females also includes all the seals that were seen in the sea off the rookery in addition to those in the harems on shore. The average number of females on shore (nine counts) was about 236 (maxi- mum 395, minimum 174). Only 2 full-grown bulls attended to this rookery. A young bull, or polusikatch, was observed occasionally on the outskirts of the two harems; but his visits were not regular, and when there he was only attended by a couple of cows. The two bulls were also unevenly matched, for it was evident that the larger and apparently older bull had the ereatest attraction in the eyes of the cows, as most of the 500 females belonged to his harem. I do not believe that more than a dozen cows were the legitimate property of the younger bull. One evening (July 28) he was quite alone, separated from the other harem, consisting of 174 females, by a pod of about 3500 sleeping pups. 1) ROOKERIES OF THE COMMANDER ISLANDS. Astounding as it appears, there can be but little doubt that the single old bull had served the great majority of the 526 females on this rook- ery and, moreover, was in fit condition to keep the younger bull ata respectful distance as late in the season as July 30. For 526 pups to have been born on this rookery in 1897 the 6 bulls which were there in 1896 must have been sufficient to impregnate probably at least 750 cows, as a number of the latter were undoubtedly killed during the pelagic sealing in the autumn of 1896 and spring of Me) le besides those perishing “from other causes during the winter migration. This result sets definitely at rest any fears that may have been entertained respecting the sufficiency of the male element now doing duty on the North Rookery of Bering Island. COPPER ISLAND. Glinka Rookeries.—Owing to the lack of means of transportation, I was unable to reach the Glinka Rookeries until August 20.