300 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



When a new cow arrives at a harem she advances in a rather hesitating manner 

 until she is noticed by the bull. The bull evinces definite signs of interest, one may even 

 say of satisfaction, and after this the new cow settles down at once. Once a cow is 

 received into a harem she is not allowed to return to the water until she has been 

 covered by the bull, and no violence is spared to achieve this object. I have seen a 

 cow, alarmed at my appearance, make desperate efforts to reach the water; but the 

 bull, after striving by mere pressure against her and finding this of no avail, seized 

 her by the flank, and in spite of her bites and struggles, lifted her back on to the rock 

 which she had left : it may be estimated that the cow weighed three hundred pounds. 



Cows from neighbouring harems will often be chased away by bulls, having pre- 

 sumably been covered by their own bulls, and the harem bulls will not permit their 

 cows to fight among themselves, but roar and threaten until the cows quieten down. 



The pups, of which each cow produces one, never more, are born at night or early 

 in the morning and parturition seems to be rather exhausting to the cows. The placenta 

 and membranes are quickly cleared away by the skuas and Scoresby's gulls which 

 haunt the rookeries (Plate IV, fig. 2 ; Plate VI, fig. 2), the latter birds acting as general 

 scavengers and consuming as much as they can find of the faeces of the sea lions. Parturi- 

 tion begins in December and the latest birth of which I have a record was on January 15. 

 On the 31st of that month, however, I have seen a pup dead, but so recently born that 

 the membranes were still covering it. I consider that this had been a still-birth. 

 Pairing takes place soon after the birth of the pup ; the latest observed coitus was on 

 January 23, although a male was observed to make an unsuccessful attempt on the 31st. 

 There is therefore a space of eight days between the latest live birth and the latest 

 impregnation, so that the period of gestation must be a few days under a year. 



There is a good deal of love-making among the sea lions ; the male and female sit 

 facing one another and with snaky movements twist their necks from side to side, thus 

 caressing one another on the front and sides of the neck and occasionally rubbing their 

 mouths together, while the cow at times grips the neck of the male in her teeth but 

 does not bite. After doing this for some time the animals sit back with their noses in 

 the air in the characteristic Otarian attitude : coitus seldom follows. At times the cow 

 will endeavour to excite the bull by presenting her hind quarters and bending her head 

 backwards until she can take hold of the male's neck with her teeth and pull at it in 

 a playful manner; for some reason this behaviour is seldom effective. 



When the male does attempt coitus the female will often try to escape, so that there 

 is usually a good deal of growling and biting and pursuit before the bull catches the 

 cow and holds her down by grasping her between his front flippers and resting his 

 great weight on her, he also presses on the cow's neck and shoulders with his head 

 and even uses his teeth if necessary; such pressure is exerted that the cow is visibly 

 flattened out (Plate III, fig. 2). The attempts at copulation are often clumsy enough 

 to begin with, and after an entrance has been effected the bull spends about five 

 minutes in the movements which lead to an orgasm, grunting at tim2s and sometimes 

 finding it necessary to rest. The orgasm of the female is frequently well marked and 



