344 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 



No. 2, seeing bull No. 1 off his guard, reaches out his 

 long strong neck, and picks the unhappy but passive creature 

 up by the scruff of hers, just as a cat does a kitten, and deposits 

 her on his seraglio-ground; then bulls Nos. 3, 4, 5, and 

 so on in the vicinity, seeing this high-handed operation, all assail 

 one another, and especially bull No. 2, and have a tremen- 

 dous fight perhaps for half a minute or so ; and during this 

 commotion the cow is generally moved or moves farther back 

 from the water two or three stations more, where, when all gets 

 quiet, she usually remains in peace. Her late lord and master, not 

 having the exposure to such diverting temptation as had 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 

 one instance of the many different trials and tribulations which 

 both parties on the rookery subject themselves to before the 

 harems are filled. Far back, fifteen or twenty stations deep 

 from the water-line sometimes, but generally not more than, on 

 an average, ten or fifteen, the cows crowd in at the close of the 

 season for arriving, July 10 to 14, and then they are able 

 to go about pretty much as they please, for the bulls have 

 become greatly enfeebled by this constant fighting and excite- 

 ment during the past two months, and are quite content with 

 even only one or two partners. 



I have found it difficult to ascertain the average number of 

 cows to one bull on the rookery, but I think it will be nearly 

 correct to assign to each male from twelve to fifteen females 

 occupying the stations nearest the water, those back in the rear 

 from five to nine. I have counted forty-five cows all under the 

 charge of one bull, which had them penned up on a flat table- 

 rock near Kestaire Point ; the bull was enabled to do this quite 

 easily, as there was but one way to go to or come from this 

 seraglio, and on this path the old Turk took his stand and 

 guarded it well. At the rear of all these rookeries there is 

 always a large number of able-bodied bulls, who wait patiently, 

 but in vain, for families, most of them having had to fight as 

 desperately for the privilege of being there as any of their more 

 fortunately located neighbours, who are nearer the water than 

 themselves; but the cows do not like to be in any outside 

 position, when they are not in close company lying most quiet 

 and content in the largest harems ; and these large families pack 

 the surface of the ground so thickly that there is hardly moving 

 or turning room until the females cease to come up from the sea ; 

 but the inaction on the part of the bulls in the rear during the- 



