482 THE PUR SEALS OP THE PEIBILOP ISLANDS. 



big black fellow aad tlien does the same thing to A — just the performanGe of the 

 breeding season, but in a milder way. 



The bull at A is the original A without a particle of doubt. He is dry now and 

 is recognizable by general appearance without his scar, but this removes any 

 possibility of doubt. One would think that these old fellows knew us; they have seen 

 us so often. They look up and roar. A is rounding up his cows and parading himself 

 over his shelf just as in former days. 



A little gray pup, just able to move about yesterday, is now dead on A's shelf. 

 The little half-starved gray pup noticed trying to find his mother yesterday is nursing 

 to-day, and has filled out considerably, though he fetill shows the effects of his fast. 



The old black bull is lying on the rock from which he put the mother off yesterday. 

 She is on another rock. 



There is a big wet bull coming up the " slide" fresh from the water. He is in fine 

 condition, and he toils up slowly. When he gets to B's place he goes over there 

 roaring, routs up and smells of the sleeping cows. He then moves to the foot of the 

 cliff near the big rock, roaring all the time. The black bull above gets off his stone 

 and comes to the edge. They lunge at one another. The black bull goes back and the 

 wet bull sits down in D's place. It seems likely that this is D himself, and that here 

 are four of these original bulls back (A, B, 0, D). 



A youngish bull with a group of small cows is a short distance back of the slide. 

 One cow occupies his attention. She acts as though she were coming in heat. She 

 hangs to the bull's throat. He cuffs her about. She moves off, but always comes 

 back and takes him by the throat. She is evidently staying of her own accord, and 

 neither of them go, though I pass near them in plain sight. The bull roars defiance 

 at me. 



Going back, I find along the edges and by the sand dunes the same line of bulls 

 that we used to run upon in coming and going in the early part of the season, and 

 which have been absent a month or more. One could almost think that they were 

 the same lot. 



In talking with Mr. Barrett-Hamilton after returning, I find that he has noticed a 

 rejuvenation in the old bulls on Zoltoi. They lunge at one another and show a good 

 deal of fight. They do not run as they used to, and some of them even strongly 

 resent intrusion. The bulls at the angle of the sands do not even deign to go into 

 the water as 1 pass, while those on the landward side only stare, moving a little way 

 to leave a passageway. There is evidently no thought of stampeding. 



SEPTEMBER 20. 



I went this morning, in company with Mr. Barrett-Hamilton, to visit the Reef. 



The bulls have thinned out considerably on Zoltoi, perhaps on account of the 

 strong wind blowing in here and causing the sand to drift and sift everywhere. 



Two bulls near the water's edge are in a crippled state. One carries his left fore 

 flipper in a sling, figuratively speaking, while the other does not seem to have good 

 control of either fore flipper, and pushes himself along on his chest. 



ARDIGUEN. 



At the slide we find still more bulls than were present last night. The oi^e 

 which came in yesterday has taken his place beside B on the flat. These two seem to 



