36 THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



an accurate and instinctive appreciation of the time in which their period of gestation ends. They are in fact 

 driven up to the rookeries by this cause alone ; the young cannot be brought forth in the water, and in all cases 

 marked by myself, the pups were born soon after landing, some in a few hours, but most usually a day or so 

 elapses before delivery. 



Organization of the rookeries. — They .are noticed and received by the males on the water-line stations 

 with attention; they are alternately coaxed and urged up ou to the rocks, as far as these beach-masters can do so, 

 by chuckling, whistling, and roaring, and then they are immediately under the most jealous supervision ; but, 

 owing to the covetous and ambitious nature of the bulls which occupy these stations to the rear of the water-line 

 and way back, the little cows have a rough-and-tumble time of it when they begin to arrive in small numbers at 

 first; for no sooner is the pretty animal fairly established on the station of male number one, who has welcomed her 

 there, then he, perhaps, sees another one of her style in the water from whence she has come, and, in obedience to 

 his polygamous feeling, devotes himself anew to coaxing the later arrival, by that same winning manner so successful 

 in the first case; then when bull number two, just back, observes bull number one off guard, he reaches out with his 

 long strong neck and picks up the unhappy but passive cow by the scruff of her's, just as a cat does a kitten, and 

 deposits her upon his seraglio ground ; then bulls number three and four, and so ou, in the vicinity, seeing this 

 high-handed operation, all assail one another, especially number two, and for a moment have a tremendous fight, 

 perhaps lastiug half a minute or so, and during this commotion the little cow is generally moved, or moves, farther 

 back from the water, two or three stations more, where, when all gets quiet again, she usually remains in peace. 

 Her last lord and master, not having the exposure to such diverting temptation as her first, gives her such care 

 that she not only is unable to leave, did she wish, but no other bull can seize upon her. This is only a faint (and I 

 fully appreciate it), wholly inadequate description of the hurly-burly and the method by which the rookeries are 

 filled up, from first to last, when the females arrive. That is only one instance of the many trials and tribulations 

 which both parties ou the rookery subject themselves to, before the harems are filled. 



Far back, fifteen or twenty "see-catchie" stations deep from the water-lme, and sometimes more, but generally 

 not over an average of ten or fifteen, the cows crowd in at the close of the season for arriving, which is by the 10th 

 or 14th of July ; then they are able to go about pretty much as they please, for the bulls have become so greatly 

 enfeebled by this constant fasting, fighting, and excitement during the past two months, that they are quite content 

 now even with only one or two partners, if they should have no more. 



The cows seem to haul up in compact bodies from the water, filling in the whole ground to the rear of the 

 rookeries, never scattering about over the surface of this area; they have mapped out from the first their chosen 

 resting places, and they will not lie quietly in any position outside of the great mass of their kind. This is due to 

 their intensely gregarious nature, and admirably adapted for their protection. And here I should call attention to 

 the fact, that they select this rookery-ground with all the skill of civil engineers. It is preferred with special 

 reference to the drainage, for it must lie so that the produce of the constantly dissolving fogs and rain-clouds shall 

 not lie upon them, having a great aversion to, and a firm determination to rest nowhere on water-puddled ground. 

 This is admirably exhibited, and will be understood by a study of my sketch-maps which follow, illustrative of 

 these rookeries and the area and position of the seals upon them. Every one of those breeding grounds slopes up 

 gently from the sea, and on no one of them is there anything like a muddy flat. 



I found it an exceedingly difficult matter to satisfy myself as to a fair general average number of cows to each 

 bull on the rookery; but, after protracted study, I think it will be nearly correct when I assign to each male a 

 general ratio of from fifteen to twenty females at the stations nearest the water; and for those back in order from 

 that line to the rear, from five to twelve ; but there are so many exceptional cases, so many instances where 

 forty-five and fifty females are all under the charge of one male ; and then, again, where there are two or three 

 females only, that this question was and is not entirely satisfactory in its settlement to my miud. 



Near Ketavie point, and just above it to the north, is an odd wash-out of the basalt by the surf, which has 

 chiseled, as it were, from the foundation of the island, a lava table, with a single roadway or land passage to it. 

 Upon the summit of this footstool I couuted forty-five cows, all under the charge of one old veteran. lie had them 

 penned up on this table-rock by taking his stand at the gate, as it were, through which they passed up and passed 

 down — a Turkish brute typified. 



Unattached males. — At the rear of all these rookeries there is invariably a large number of able-bodied 

 males which have come late, but wait patiently, yet in vaiu, for families ; most of them having had to fight as 

 desperately for the privilege of being there as any of their more fortunately-located neighbors, who are nearer the 

 water, and in succession from there to where they are themselves ; but the cows do not like to be in any outside 

 position. They cannot be coaxed out where they are not in close company with their female mates and masses. 

 They lie most quietly and contentedly in the largest harems, and cover the surface of the ground so thickly that 

 there is hardly moviug or turning room until the females cease to come from the sea. The inaction ou the part of 

 the males in the rear during the breeding-season only serves to qualify them to move into the places which are 

 necessarily vacated by those males that are, in the mean-time, obliged to leave from virile exhaustion, or incipient 

 wouuds. All the surplus able-bodied males, that have not been successful in effecting a landiug on the rookeries, 



