322 THE FUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



GORBATCH. 



Under the cliffs of Gorbatcli rookery a half bull about 10 feet from shore is seen 

 copulating with a little cow. The cow's head is under water two-thirds of the time. 

 She rests on the rocks in shallow water. Another bull tries to interfere and disturbs 

 the copulating, which is resumed after the intruder is driven off. The cow is half 

 drowned and both animals are repeatedly rolled over by the surf. 



A cow goes out to sea; her bull remonstrates and follows her into the water neck 

 deep, but she gets away. He chases her under the water. 



Two seals on a rock snatch at a sea bird which skims over them in its flight. 



Some of the natives have the absurd notion that the shrinkage from Townseud's 

 crosses is due to the fact that the white crosses scare them. On a cairn of stones 

 where Captain Moser placed a white flag while making hydrographic observations, 

 a half bull is now perched close to the flag, of which he seems very proud. It marks 

 his castle, as it were. 



Cows in the rain move out of the puddles and perch upon rocks in all sorts of 

 attitudes. A favorite position when rain is falling is to sit up like a dog with the 

 head thrown far back. A dead half bull at Zoltoi lies on the beach, badly cut about 

 the breast and flippers. 



ARDIGUEN. 



This rookery was visited about 4 p. m. The weather is cold and rainy. Harem 

 A has moved up 15 feet nearer the rocks and has 7 cows, his original number. Another 

 bull from behind is located in his former place, but has lost the cow he had stolen the 

 other day from A's harem. We have designated him as Y. There is no difficulty in 

 recognizing the cow by the peculiar color of her neck, though now that she is dry 

 this is not very marked. 



Harem B has only 10 cows; C, 23, spread out and climbing on the rocks, probably 

 because of the muddy condition of the harem, due to the rain. Harem X has 1 cow 

 and 2 pups. D's harem is much spread out with 15 cows. Harem E has 3; F, 17; 

 0,2. 



Pups are still being born, red placentas are lying about. The cows are much 

 more scattered, probably to avoid mud. 



JULY 20. 



Dr. Jordan and Mr. Clark visited Gorbatcli and Reef in the forenoon and Lukanin 

 in the afternoon. Mr. Lucas made a count of Lukanin rookery. 



Weather cloudy, with thick fog at times; strong southeasterly winds. Ther- 

 mometer, 44; barometer, 30.40. 



A semi-albino half bull, 5 years old, is to-day on Zoltoi sands with some 40 

 others, nearly all 5-year-olds, some 4, some younger. 



Six single-cow harems lie at the back of the massed portion of Gorbatcli, where 

 not more than two were to be seen yesterday. It is probable that the idle bulls 

 succeed later on in establishing many of these harems. A bull was seen to enter a 

 harem and carry off a cow a distance of 20 feet, holding her against two other idle 

 bulls which attacked him. He kept the cow for a few minutes, but she escaped and 

 got back into the harem to which she belonged. This seems to be the regular process 

 by which the small harems in the rear grow. 



