Bird-Lore
A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE
DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS
Official Organ of the Audubon Societies
| Vol. III | March—April, 1901 | No. 2 |
Walrus Island, a Bird Metropolis of Bering Sea
BY FREDERIC A. LUCAS
With phoioghai'hs from nature bv H. 13. Chuhksikr
IT was a sunny afternoon in July when the cutter Rush made a long
detour around the treacherous shallows off Reef Point, St. Paul
Island, and steaminij; hy Sivutch Rock, with its colony of fur seals
fanning themselves in the unwelcome sunshine, headed for Walrus Island.
We knew this spot from afar off and indistinctly, for, although hut six
miles distant from N. E. Point, such is the average summer weather of
Bering Sea that most of the time it is enshrouded in a mantle of fog.
Some of its inhabitants we knew very well, for the Hurgomaster Gulls
{Larus f^laucescens) which dwell there make daily visits to St. Paul in search
of the offal of the seal killing-grounds, or to peck at the eyes of the iiing
and dead pups on the fur seal rookeries, or to carry home a bit of vegeta-
tion for a nest. The few walruses, whence the island derived its name,
have disappeared, killed or driven away by the persecutions of man, and
the last one was shot in 1891. The spot was never a breeding ground,
merely the summer haunt of a score or so of old male walruses thrust out
of the compan of their fellows by younger ant! abler beasts, or preferring
a peaceful bachelorhood to the cares of married life. The birds, however,
remain undisturbeil, save for a few visits in early simimer from the natives,
who go over to load a boat or two with eggs that form an agreeable change
from salt and canned provisions.
Half the distance between St. Paul ami Walrus Island had been
covered when a breath of cool air swept over the water, ami in .another
minute everything had vanished and we were steaming through the fog.
On we went until the patent log said that the islam! was not far distant,
and accordingl' the Ru^h was slowi-d douii, while, in addition to the care-
ful lookout that had been coiitinualK kept, tin- k-ad was cast in order that
we nugiit not roiiic upon the Kind in more as than one. Ami now the
fog thinned out and rolled up into (Icci clouds, leaving everthing visible
for some (lisiance ahead, but ^(•(•allll^ no trace of Walrus Island. I he
