COUNT OF PUPS ON POLOVINA CLIFFS. 329 



. LITTLE POLOVINA. 



Little Polovina is a pretty little rookery, but not easily counted, as there is no 

 place from which it can be looked. down upon, and it spreads out over an irregular 

 rocky slope. It might spread out indefinitely along its rocky reef, like Lagoon or 

 Zapadni Eeef. There are 45 harems in the rookery. The bulls seem very fierce and 

 the cows restless here, as at the main rookery. 



Behind the rookery are many idle bulls. One bull left his harem of 6 or 6 cows 

 to attack an idle bull lying near, and his harem stampeded into the next bull's flock. 

 He looked back and saw what had happened, paused a moment, and then went with 

 still greater vigor after the idle bull, as if to be revenged. He returned later with 

 a torn eye to the place wbere his harem had been, but while we remained he did 

 not regain any part of his flock. 



POLOVINA CLirrs. 



An attempt was made to count pups in the patches between Little Polovina and 

 the main rookery, but with no great success, as it was not possible to get near 

 enough to the harems to see all the pups in the crevices of the rocks without stam- 

 peding the cows. Many of them took to the water as it was, despite the restraining 

 efforts of the frantic bulls. 



There were many illustrations of the fact that when a cow wants to go to the 

 water the bull can not in the long run stop her, though he may try to do so and 

 succeed for a time. A wet cow is seen fighting to get past a wet bull at the water's 

 edge. The efforts of cows to get past bulls to the water have certainly been wrongly 

 interpreted when regarded as the teasing of listless and impotent bulls. 



In the next patch or gully 27 pups are counted. Two are in a little cave alone 

 with a single cow. Are these twins'? It is not evident how the cow and pups could 

 have reached the place. On crossing over to the other side, however, a small hole, 

 just large enough for a seal to crawl through, is found leading down to the shelf 

 below, where the rest of the harem is. One pup lies dead under a slide of sand and 

 rocks; a very young one. There are 30 pups in the next section; 110 in the next; 18 

 in the next. Then there is a break; 23 pups follow; then 57, one dead in the sand. 

 In the next section 112 are counted; then 79; one young one is trampled in the 

 dust. 



The sections counted extend to the first little point and break north of Polovina 

 Point. There are over 900 pups, but the count is by no means complete. 



On the 15th of July Mr. Townsend counted the cows in these sections and found 

 1,268 in 86 harems. Evidently we have not found all the pups.' 



At the southern end of the cliffs is a wet cow, just in from the sea, with bloody 

 shot holes in her back below the shoulders, the shot apparently having passed 

 through. The cow had just come out of the water, and the fresh blood is streaming 

 down her back. Another cow in the same harem showed a fresh wound on her back, 

 probably the result of a bite; it might be the wouud of a spear. The cow with the 

 two holes was undoubtedly shot," the buckshot penetrating the skin at one side and 

 coming out at the other. 



' When the count of live paps was made on this section, by actually driving up and counting the 

 animals, '2,496 were found. 



^Others which had been shot at the same time were found at Morjovi, July 25. 



