THE NORTHEAST POINT ROOKERIES. 437 



wauted. The drive contained about 50 old bulls, 50 half bulls, and 100 bachelors. It 

 was an astonishing sight to see all these huge brutes driven by two or three men 

 when any one of the bulls could easily have driven off the drivers. 



One bull that dragged his flippers killed ; showed no apparent injury. Another 

 bull was seen to do the same thing on the other side of Zoltoi. 



In the afternoon I went to Lukanin. The rookery looked deserted, seals being 

 down in the water or well up the slope. 



Wet cows were coming all the time and yet we can see more out at sea. We can 

 not see any in the water that show evidence of going out to sea, yet they are constantly 

 slipping in and coming up the slope to find their pups. Cows simply emerge from or 

 are lost in the line of sporting seals. 



There is no directness about the beasts; the only thing they can do without 

 stopping is to run away when frightened. A pup roams about and swallows several 

 pebbles. Why do they swallow them 1 



After supper I go out with Mr. Olark to the end of Gorbatch and stay till dark. 

 Rookery life goes on at night as iu the day. The seals are still sporting in the water 

 and those on land are talking to one another. There are 3 new bulls at the Slide. 

 They are playing at running harems, quarreling with one another, and trying to talk 

 to the cows. 



The question of testes is still a puzzle. This afternoon we saw two 3-year-old 

 bachelors in which they had entered the scrotum and showed plainly, while the two 

 very old bulls killed in the morning have no show of testes at all, i. e., in scrotum.^ 



AUGUST 27. 

 Mr. Lucas, Mr. Macoun, and Judge Crowley went this morning to Northeast Point 



MK. LUCAS'S NOTES. 



The seals are now up to the top of Hutchinson Hill, and some 6-year-old buUs 

 are on duty almost at the summit. Although this rookery has dwindled sadly, yet 

 the view from the hill is still wonderful in its abundance of seals. The gregariousness 

 of the seals is well shown by the fact that, although there is almost unlimited space at 

 the foot of Hutchinson Hill, some areas are thickly packed with seals, while between 

 these areas are great stretches of unoccupied ground. 



There are 2 beautiful dark-gray females near the top of the hill — no white patch 

 under throat. The variation of the seal in size and color is remarkable. Given 2 

 specimens and it would be easy to make 2 species on both external and cranial 

 characters. Some bulls are almost uniform light gray, others a dark velvety brown 

 with yellowish manes. 



Some burgomaster gulls are prospecting among the seal and one tears and eats a 

 dead pup. But I still doubt if they ever kill pups. 



The chances of a female coming in heat and escaping unimpregnaled are very 

 small. Between the old bulls in the harems and the young bulls after the harems 

 have broken up, as at this date, every female has good chance of being served. 



Walking down the various rookeries south of Hutchinson Hill is now a curious 

 experience. Everything is so quiet, where in July all was uproar — bulls quarreling 



■ See later notes under date of October 11 and 17. 



