THE SEA-LION 281 



separate families, each under one powerful male who 

 governs it. The places where these animals congregate 

 are popularly known as " rookeries." When the breed- 

 ing season approaches, the adult or old males come first 

 to the rookery, and landing, each takes up his station on 

 the rocks close to the sea, there to await the arrival of 

 the females. But their respective stations are not taken 

 up without severe contests, the most powerful males 

 securing advantageous positions close to the sea, while 

 those which have not reached their prime or which have 

 survived it, are driven further inland. They fight des- 

 perately, and sometimes a male will have to carry on fifty 

 or sixty successive contests before his position on the 

 shore-line is fully secured to him. When, the males 

 arrive they are strong, vigorous, and exceedingly fat, and 

 the successful ones secure a space for themselves about 

 ten feet square. They begin to arrive in the latter part 

 of May, and a little before the middle of June the first 

 females approach the shore. This is the signal for a 

 universal and desperate fight amongst the males. Each 

 successful combatant then tries to coax or to force a 

 female to land at his station, where she is immediately 

 looked after with the most vigilant jealousy by her lord 

 till he sees another female approaching, when he goes to 

 the water's edge to similarly coax or force her. Then 

 comes the opportunity for one of the males less favour- 

 ably situated to appropriate to himself the female thus 

 momentarily lef t unguarded. She is seized and deposited 

 on his ground, but hardly is this accomplished before he 

 has in turn to defend his conquest against the attempts 

 of other males whose stations are still further back. 

 Should any of them succeed, they in their turn have to 

 combat for their prize, till the much-disputed fair one 

 falls to the lot of a male sufficiently strong to maintain 



