b. w. evermann: notes on rookeries, pribilof islands. 267 



Luku ii)io)i rookery, July 20, a. m. 



Visited this rookery again this morning. Compared with its condi- 

 tion yesterday, very little change was noticed. The families were 

 somewhat less distinct and the bachelors at the left end had shifted their 

 position somewhat. 



I/ukannon rookery, July 21, p. m. 



Visited this rookery again this afternoon. The families are very 

 much more broken up than they were two days ago. The majority of 

 cows have gone out to sea to feed and the pups have collected more 

 into pods or along the water's edge, where they spend much time play- 

 ing in the water and learning to swim. 



Lukunnon rookery, July 23, a.m. 



Spent the entire forenoon watching the seals at this rookery. 



Compared with the conditions observed on July 21 a good many 

 bachelors had pretty well filled up the space at the north end of the 

 rookery and had extended further north along the shore. All this space 

 is covered with large well-worn rocks lying from 1-12 to C feet apart. 

 There is no grass on this, but southward and westward is a large area, 

 averaging perhaps 200 feet wide, wnichis covered with seal-worn rocks 

 in the same way, but has been unused for so long a time that it is now 

 well grown over with grass. Near the north end of the breeding ground 

 seals appeared much more numerous than on the 21st inst., due, no 

 doubt, to the return of many cows that had been out at sea feeding. 



The families are much more broken up to-day than on the 19th inst., 

 a great many pups being seen with no cows near them. I counted five 

 dead pups on this rookery. 



Cows are coming and going all the time, the water near shore being 

 well filled with seals, and the immediate water front being thickly cov- 

 ered with cows and pups, the latter venturing into shallow water a few 

 feet, then returning to the rocks. Most of the bulls were lying quietly 

 about, many apparently sleeping. 



From £ to § of the pups were crawling about, playing or trying the 

 water; others were lying quietly around in pods of various sizes, while 

 some were scattered about and more or less isolated. 



A good many cows were lying some distance away from any families 

 or were moving about the water frontwithout being interfered with in 

 any way by the bulls. 



At one place I watched for some time 20 or 30 pups playing in the 

 edge of the water. None ventured out more than four feet, while most 

 of them seldom went beyond the very small pools among the rocks. I 

 saw one pup swimming about 1 feet from the shore, when, what I took 

 to be a cow, but what might have been a bachelor, jumped from a rock 

 into the water immediately in front of the pup and drove it back to the 

 rocks, following it up until it had crawled upon a rock. Whether this 

 was merely accidental or was done intentionally by the cow (or bach- 

 elor) to prevent the pup from going too far out in the water I can not, 

 of course, say. 



A little later, at the same place, I saw what I took to be a cow pick 

 up a pup, swim with it in her mouth out about 6 feet, then let it go. 

 The pup struck out at once for the rocks, swimming fairly well. Then 

 the cow came on the rocks and fondled the pup. It seems certain to 

 me that this was her pup, and that she was teaching it to swim. 



