14 TESTIMONY 



tbem but at no time duriug the season were tue rookeries free from the 

 contention of the males that sought by coaxing or theft to procure females 

 with which to increase their harems, and from the time I landed until the 

 close of July no master of a harem abandoned his position to procure 

 either food or water. These bulls during the breeding season were the 

 embodiment of ferocity and at no time did I see one of them that would 

 not instantly and fiercely resist any encroachment upon his territory 

 whether it were made by his neighbor or by man. At no time would a bull 

 lail to scramble across the rocks or course rapidly around his harem to 

 coerce a rebellious or deserting consort. The creature that can exist 



without nourishment for eighty or ninety days while 

 '*^*^' subject to the greatest physical exertion and strain 



must possess a vitality unsurpassed by any other member of the ani 

 mal kingdom and must bequeath to its offspring even in their imma- 

 turity an unusual capacity for endurance. 



From my observation as to the vitality of male seals I believe that it 

 is difficult to determine with absolute accuracy the capacity of the bull 

 for rookery service, as it must in large measure depend upon the per- 

 sonal equation of the individual, but I aui nevertheless of the opinion 

 that a conservative estimate would be that he could serve without dif- 

 ficulty at least one cow per day during his stay upon the rookery. Pos- 

 sibly the best results would not be achieved thereby, but this cai3acity 

 taken in connection with the fact that young males persistently seek 

 their opportunities upon the rookery margins and at the water's edge 

 during the entire season leaves no doubt in my mind that no breeding" 

 female leaves the island unimpreguated. This view is further borne 

 out by the fact that in the first days of rookery life I repeatedly counted 

 groups of female seals by the side of each of which lay her pup. 



The number of I'emales which a bull is able to gather around him to 



form his harem, depending as it does in some measure 

 a har^f^ °^ '^*'^*' '° upou topographic conditions, may be represented by the 



extremes of one and seventy-five. The average number 

 of last year was about twenty or twenty five. Unusually large harems 

 were infrequent. 



The abundance of male life for service uj)on the rookeries was evi- 

 denced by the number of young bulls which continually sought lodg- 

 ment upon the breeding grounds. 



It is highly improbable that the rookeries have ever sustained any 



injury from insufficient service on the part of the males, 

 propljitk.n.™''^''" ^°' for any male that did not possess sufficient vitality for 



sustained potency would inevitably be deprived of his 

 harem by either his neighbor or some lusty young aspirant, and this 

 disi)ossession would be rendered the more certain by the disloyalty of 

 his consorts. 



Pelagic coition I believe to be impossible. The process upon land 



by reason of the formation of the genital organs is that 

 po^sibfe!' *^'''"°'' ""■ of a mammal ; is violent in character, and consumes from 



five to eight minutes. The relative sizes of the male 

 and female are so disproportionate that coitus in the water would inev- 

 itably submerge the female and require that she remain under water 

 longer than would be possible to such an amphibian. I have sat upon 

 the cliffs for hours ami watched seals beneath me at play in the clear 

 water. It is true that many of their antics might be mistaken for copu- 

 lation by a careless observer, and this may have given rise to the theory 

 of pelagic coition. I have never seen a case of the many observed 

 which upon the facts could proj^erly be so construed. 



