ROOKERY COUNTS. 551 



diminished. They are not in a position to receive many recruits and the number of 

 outgoing cows has been considerable. 



The cows are uneasy and restless under the rain. The bulls are excited and more 

 fighting is going on than I have seen yet on any rookery. 



The pups are becoming very conspicuous as they wander about and play in pods. 

 In li isolated harems it is possible to be reasonably sure of the pups. One harem of 

 35 cows has 24 pups; another of 26 cows has 28 pups, including '3 dead ones. In 

 addition to the 2 seen dead at birth 1 is now present, which, from its thin 

 appearance has probably starved. The harem is two removed from the one in which 

 the stolen cow was observed so long without her pup. To-day she is gone and her 

 bull has 3 fresh cows. No trace of the starving pup has been seen for several days 

 and the emaciated pup may be it. 



MR. LUCAS'S NOTES. 



I go up on the cliff above Staraya Artel rookery, but can not get near on account 

 of a few straggling harems. There can, however, be but few seals under the lower 

 shelf. From the top 42 harems and 30 idle bulls are visible, and 45 harems is probably 

 near the mark. The count of the rookery is extremely unsatisfactory and is practi- 

 cally impossible. Whatever the number, as compared with last year there are now 

 fewer, for the rookery is thinner and more straggling. The few harems that could be 

 separated are as follows : 3, 3, 2, 2, 1, 26, 16. At the upper end are ten bulls with 

 about 250 cows. 



On Little East rookery there are 46 harems, with 497 cows and 14 idle bulls. In 

 one place a water bull rushes vigorously into the harems and no less than 4 others 

 follow in quick succession. (See observation of Mr. Clark.) For a few minutes there 

 is great excitement among the bulls and cows. Many of the cows on Little East are 

 much cut. 



JULY 10. 



A count of Lukanin showed 1,680 cows present. There were 660 on the Amphi- 

 theater. In the latter breeding ground are two harems which have been united so 

 that they can not be distinguished. They aggregate 150 cows. 



Under the cliffs at Lukanin are 5 little animals distributed about in as many 

 harems. They look exactly like the 2-year-old virgin cows. They move about like 

 privileged characters, and are certainly not gravid. The one which has been watched 

 for some days has moved to a harem some distance off. 



On Tolstoi sand flat the mass of cows has increased, spreading out on either side 

 but still keeping the point of the wedge toward the base of the rocky slope up which 

 the harems extend in a line nearly to the top. At the western end of the flat the 

 seals are just beginning to move upon the slope. At no intermediate point on the 

 sand flat or slope have cows appeared. 



A young bull still wet was forced by the idle bulls down the slope into the sand 

 flat. He avoided the harems in the crowded part, and after encountering every bull 

 in the middle portion of that flat was thrown into the sea. Had he gone down through 

 the massed harems, there would have been a line of crushed pups in his wake. 



This bull was large enough to be classed among the idle bulls. There were other 

 wet bulls lying about on the edge of the flat. It is evident that some, at least, of 



