26 Goh He BARRETT HAMILTON [sULY 
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 :— 


June. 29 June 30. | July 1.| July 2.| July 3. 
| 
: | 
P.M. P.M. a.M. P.M. P.M. A.M. A.M. P.M. 
2.30 6.15 10.40 3.15 6.30 10.35 11.55 12.10 

Total number of cows in the 
two larger harems (as before) | 83 | 88 80 87 98 | 132 | L2i> \ietor 
Number of other bulls in this | | 
section > ; : . 
Number of outlying cows 


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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. Im 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 Reef 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 
