26 



G. E. H. BARRETT-HAMILTON 



[JULY 



to lie in scattered groups outside the main mass, and thus permitted 

 the weaker bulls to form new harems out of the reach of the two strong 

 old bulls. 



The following table shows the number of bulls and cows on the 

 western portion of Kishotchnaya outside of the two larger harems : — 



A fact which came under my observation in connection with the 

 bulls and half-bulls was the fact that several of those which had a 

 regular station on the rookery occasionally absented themselves from 

 it. Thus, one bull at Kishotchnaya was absent from his place during 

 the earlier part of the 1st July. In the evening I was fortunate 

 enough to see him return. At 1.20 p.m. on the 2nd July this same 

 bull — a grey one, and therefore probably of no great age — left his 

 place in the rookery, and passed out to a position less than 100 yards 

 away on the reef. Here he slept until 3.20 p.m., when he awoke, 

 deliberately returned to his place on the rookery, and scattered the 

 other bulls who attempted to face him. 



In 1896, too, I had observed the same phenomena. Thus on 

 July 23, whilst some of the isolated patches of seals at the section 

 of the North rookery known as the Eeef were under my observation, I 

 saw a very black-looking bull coming across the sands towards the 

 rookery from the west, and apparently from the sea. When this bull 

 approached the rookery more closely several of the others began to 

 make demonstrations against him, rushing out for some distance from 

 their harems to meet him. At first the intruder seemed to be 

 frightened by the show of hostility with which his arrival was greeted, 

 and slackening his pace, sat down as if to rest and think things over 

 before approaching within fighting distance. Thus I got a snap-shot 

 of him. He was, however, only taking his own time about his own 

 business, and presently he went deliberately into what he evidently 

 considered his own place, the other bulls retiring before him. From 

 the first his action was deliberate, and he made for one particular part 

 of the rookery as if he had known it all his life. These roving habits 

 on the part of a full-grown rookery bull were so unlike anything of 

 which I had read previously, that they gave me a good deal of trouble 

 before an explanation was forthcoming. At first I was inclined to 

 attribute them to possible disturbances of the rookery during the 



