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NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 68 



on the female's head with his jaws, and the two animals, linked 

 together by their heads, spun rapidly over and over in the longi- 

 tudinal axis on the surface. The spinning continued for only a few 

 seconds. Then the female became limp, the male again aligned 

 his body with her back and grasped her with his forelegs, and 

 copulation continued for an additional 9.5 minutes. When the 

 male released his grip after an elapsed time of 23.5 minutes, the 

 female's nose was gashed and bleeding. The two animals im- 

 mediately began to groom and scrub their fur. Then, the female 

 leading, the pair swam to and hauled out on the rock where they 

 had previously engaged in courtship. Here they continued to 

 groom and dry their fur for 10 minutes. The female was particu- 

 larly vigorous in this activity. During this period and subsequent 

 periods of association with the male on the chosen rock, the female 

 almost constantly uttered a soft chuckling sound. After drying 

 their fur, the pair went to sleep curled up close beside each other. 

 The time was late afternoon and presumably, as was observed on 

 other occasions, they slept in this location until after sunrise the 

 next day. 



While most observations indicated that the male initiated mat- 

 ing activities, estrous females were observed to tease or stimulate 

 a reluctant male. In one instance (7 May 1956 at 1715 local time) 

 I saw a male and female sleeping close beside each other in a kelp 

 patch. They appeared to be a mated pair, and I presumed that 

 copulation had occurred. While I watched, the female awoke and 

 began to nuzzle the male about the head and abdomen. The male 

 was slowly aroused from sleep and at first appeared indifferent to 

 the attention of the female. Within about 30 seconds, however, 

 he clasped her with his forepaws, then grasped the side of her 

 head in his jaws. The female then became rigid (as described 

 elsewhere) and copulation was accomplished. Unfortunately, after 

 copulation had continued for 11 minutes, their motions carried 

 them behind rocks, and it was not possible to obtain further obser- 

 vations of the pair. 



In one case, a second copulation occurred about one-half hour 

 after the first. Various observations of behavior indicate that more 

 than one copulation may be usual. 



Copulation usually occurs in the afternoon. I have 21 obser- 

 vations of copulation and attempted copulation during the after- 

 noon, but only 1 recorded for morning (1030). 



Barabash-Nikiforov (1947) says that during coitus the pair 

 "cling to each other, intertwining belly to belly, and revolve 

 around the longitudinal axis." Murie (1940) also said "position 



