318 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



A count of the bulls on Reef rookery was made. One harem of 2 cows is seen 

 about midway between Ardiguen and the end of the point. It is in an isolated 

 position, no other harems being within 40 yards, and properly belongs to Ardiguen. 

 The bull is seen to copulate; the cow bites him. He keeps up a constant growling 

 and putting. When over, he turns and roars. Then both bull and cow plunge into 

 the water and swim away in opposite directions, leaving the other cow and the pod of 

 6 pups. They do not return while we remain, but are swimming still, in dolphin 

 fashion, after ten minutes. This is doubtless a young bull. There are pups in the 

 harem, but only 2 cows; the others must be at sea. On visiting the harem twenty 

 minutes later the bull was found to have returned to the beach, but at sight of us he 

 once more took to the sea. 



REEF ROOKERY. 



One harem, the first of Reef rookery, lies isolated on the west side of the point. 

 It contains 12 cows. 



The first patch of seals on Reef rookery has shrunk well away from the double 

 cross mark, 40 feet at least. It begins at the point and is bounded by a bachelor 

 runway on the east. There are 52 bulls with harems. The harems are moderately 

 massed on coarse, irregular blocks of rock. 



The second patch, a merely arbitrary division, has 31 harems. There are many 

 idle bulls on the outskirts, and their breath, as they puff at each other, is suffocating. 

 Eighteen harems are in the space between this and a second runway, marked by a 

 single cross at the head. No harems are within 40 feet of the cross, however, the 

 space being full of cantankerous, idle bulls. A bull steals the only cow from a 

 neighboring harem and adds her to his already large harem. 



There are 38 harems to a triangular green rock, and 36 harems to the stump at 

 the point where the line of harems widens into a wedge-shaped mass. This mass 

 contains 80 harems and is bounded by a third bachelor runway, in which there is a 

 pond of foul-smelling water. This great mass of seals, the densest seen, reaches well 

 up to the cross marking the terminus of last year. The ground is black with pups. 

 Small harems, evidently the result of capture, lie on the outskirts. 



Back of the central portion of Reef rookery is the hauling ground. The runway 

 containing the pond is the one most frequented by the bachelors of Reef rookery. 

 There are at its head to-day 500 half bulls, to say nothing of bachelors, although it 

 was only yesterday that everything was driven up. These half bulls will increase 

 the horde of idle bulls of next year. 



Beyond the first pond there is a still larger lot of seals. One isolated harem is 

 located under the cross painted by Mr. Townsend. Several others are near it, but the 

 main rookery does not come within 20 feet of the cross. The great patch can not be 

 counted from any point. 



Then conies another runway, and in it another pond nearly dried up. In the 

 great patch terminated by this runway the harems can only be estimated. There are 

 probably 100 families in all. This estimate is verified by a still later view at a point 

 beyond. The wedge of seals falls 60 feet short of the cross painted last year. 



One bull stands guard over a dead cow and a live pup at some distance outside 

 the line of harems. It can not be determined whether the pup belongs to the dead 

 cow or not. The bull is with difficulty driven away from the cow. The pup goes off 



