THE COUNTING OF THE STARVED PUPS. 495 



My opinion now is that the testes are under the control of the animal to a certain 

 extent and can be drawn up into the body. Though one can not be sure of it, it is 

 probable that they are drawn up when the animal walks about. They show most 

 plainly when he is lying down. On one occasion a bull was seen which showed no 

 trace of testes in one position, while upon rolling over they were plainly visible. 



SEPTEMBER 29. 



The wind began to freshen a little, and it was thought best to get Sivutch 

 Rock out of the way while the landing was good. Arrangements were therefore 

 made for a boat from East Lauding to meet us on the Beef at 10 o'clock and take 

 us over. 



GORBATCH. 



Immediately after breakfast counting was begun on Zoltoi sands. On the sands 

 we found 27 of the 33 pups counted there previously. Some of these were freshly 

 washed up, but it shows that the percentage of loss even on these places is not large. 

 Not more than a dozen of these pups would have been found, however, if it had not 

 been for the high wind of the past few days, which drove off the sand that had for a 

 week covered them. 



No attempt was made to separate the pups as to parts of the rookery. There 

 were found to be on Gorbatch, exclusive of the sand beach at Zoltoi, 1,851 pups; 

 including the 27 on Zoltoi, 1,878 in all. The previous count was 712. One hundred 

 and thirty-four starving pups were counted on Gorbatch. A few additional pups 

 belong to this rookery on account of removals for dissection, but it was decided to 

 simply add to the total of dead pups the number of dissected pups. One hundred 

 and fifty will cover pups removed for all purposes from the rookeries after the first 

 count and before the second. All pups opened for dissection on the rookeries have 

 disappeared. These pups have been reduced to skeletons by the gulls or carried oft 

 by the foxes. 



Two blind pups were noticed in the progress of the count; one thin and starving, 

 the other fat and healthy; the eyes of both white "moon eyes." One pup was killed 

 by jumping off a cliff while the starving pups were being counted. A living pup and 

 afterwards a cow were found imprisoned in crevices in the rocks. They were both 

 released by noosing them and drawing them to the surface. The cow seemed very 

 stiff; the pup showed no injury, and was, as usual, ready and willing to bite every one. 



It is evident that in this imprisonment of animals there is a considerable 

 percentage of loss. These two instances show another way in which the rookeries 

 can be improved. A force of men should be taken over them and cracks and seams 

 of this sort should be filled with rocks. A heavy sledge to break in the edge would 

 be the thing. The ledges of rocks at the Sea Lion Point of Gorbatch contain many 

 crevices, which would be death traps should seals or pups fall into them, as they are 

 deep and narrow and the animals could not extricate themselves. 



ARDIGUEN, SIVUTCH, AND REEF. 



The slide was counted next and found to contain 78 dead pups. There was one 

 cow which was not noted in the previous count. Eight starving pups were counted 

 here. 



