EXCREMENT ON THE ROOKERIES. 357 



VIRGINS. 



The animals we thought virgins are now certainly known to be such. The one 

 we formerly shot on Zoltoi was an exception, a young cow which had lost her pup and 

 had left the harem. Falling into the company of a young bull she hauled out on the 

 sands. The virgins are probably not often impregnated in regularly formed harems. 

 They seem not to be wanted in the regular harems; at least they shift about as if they 

 did not feel at home. They are to be found chiefly at the back of the regular breeding 

 ground and at the water's edge. Among them are a good many old cows/ probably 

 drawn back by the movement of their pups, fertilization being over and the bulls 

 having relaxed their watch. / 



It is not necessary to suppose that the virgins come up on the hauling grounds 

 with the bachelors and then wander away to the bulls. These little harems in the 

 rear are to be found behind all the rookeries. 



EXCKBMBHT. 



A young bull in sex excitement with a cow voids much orange-colored excrement, 

 and paddles his flipper in it till he is thoroughly soiled. There is excrement in 

 abundance both on the rookeries and on the hauling grounds. This animal must have 

 fed recently. On the rookeries the excrement is mostly soft and soon dries in the 

 sand. On the hauling ground it is often cylindrical and of the consistency of putty. 

 One of the little cows killed had a long cylindrical piece of excrement in the rectum; 

 the other was filthy with soft greenish excrement. 



ARDIGXJEN, 



The slide was visited at 3 o'clock. One pup was observed just born, having 

 the placenta still attached. The cow was fairly large, but of the whitish color of 

 those supposed to be young. Doubtless she is a 3-year-old, with her first pup. She 

 is in charge of a half bull lately come on the water front. There are other cows in the 

 harem. A cow draws up the pup to her breast by the nape of the neck. 



A large pod of pups are playing in the water. They seem to enjoy it greatly. 

 Those entering the water are not confined to harems near shore. Wet ones are 

 observed at the very top of the slide. One wet pup comes up to harem A. He waits 

 ■a little and then goes back down the incline toward the water again. He is watched 

 two-thirds of the way down. The wet pups are scattered all about in every pod of 

 sleeping ones. They seem even smaller than their fellows, but probably this is 

 because the water has smoothed down the fur. 



A wet cow just in from the water is watched find her pup. She calls ; three or four 

 pups answer. The cow ceases to call; she makes no further effort. No pup comes to 

 her within half an hour. 



A mother lying near the large green rock awakens and calls. Her ptip responds 

 and comes to her. She is in a position which does not give the little fellow any chance. 

 The cow fusses about, calling to the pup, who keeps up a response. Finally the little 

 one is pushed off the rock and slides down 10 feet. The mother is alarmed and calls 

 frantically. The pup comes to the foot of the rock and looks up, calling, but can not 

 climb the rock. The mother calls repeatedly. Finally the pup makes a wide detour 

 and gets up to the mother. She moves to a better place and the pup takes his dinner. 



'Apparently cows that have lost their pups haul backward with the virgins. 



