1899] THE HABITS OF THE NORTHERN FUR SEAL 23 



other bulls who had to be content with harems containing from one 

 to six females each, while there were yet again other bulls which 

 were as yet unable to get among the breeding females at all, and 

 which represented the " idle " or " reserve " bulls of the Pribilof 

 Islands. 



Several points struck me in connection with the habits and dis- 

 position of the bulls during the earlier parts of the season : — There 

 were at the North rookery no bulls anxiously awaiting the arrival of 

 the cows on the shore-line. The best stations were evidently not on 

 the shore-line, but at the places where the patches of first -arriving 

 cows were massed together, and it was to these patches and not to the 

 sea that the attention of the still unoccupied bulls was directed. 

 Many of the bulls, both of those which possessed harems and those 

 which did not, were asleep, and were not displaying that almost cease- 

 less activity which a perusal of the writings of Mr. H. W. Elliott 

 would lead one to expect. 



The cows were not received by the bulls at the shore-line, but 

 seemed to come in unnoticed and quietly joined one or other of the 

 patches of their sisters who had already arrived. Sometimes a cow 

 was delayed in her progress up the beach by the unwelcome attentions 

 of one or other of the wandering half-bulls which had not yet gained 

 a harem, but such delay was seldom of long duration, as the cows 

 were very persistent in their movements and resented as angrily as 

 they dared all attempts of the half-bulls to stop them. 



The rookery in its first beginnings did not consist of a large 

 area of loosely scattered bulls and cows, but of the above described 

 densely crowded, although small, patches. It is thus interesting to 

 note the passage by a large rookery early in the season, although 

 in the reverse order, through the stages exhibited by one which is 

 in the course of being exterminated. The former starts as a 

 number of detached and crowded patches, which in the end coalesce 

 and fuse to form one rookery ; the latter musters in the early part 

 of the season in exactly the same manner, but the patches may 

 never grow large enough to coalesce and fuse. In spite of the 

 crowded condition of these patches, the cows were, as at Eobben Island, 

 constantly quarrelling with and snapping at each other. The bachelors, 

 no doubt owing to the great proportion of old and unoccupied bulls 

 present, were hauled up in one lot by themselves, and amongst them 

 were several of the large half-bulls, which later in the season were 

 acting as masters of harems on the breeding-grounds. 



The bachelors appeared to be ready to stampede had they been 

 approached too closely, but the bulls and cows could not, I think, have 

 been moved except by force. The bulls roared at us and were very 

 threatening, but would not leave their cows to attack us. All 

 the bulls appeared to be in good health, but in a variable state of 

 fatness. 



