220 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 68 



The male followed the female closely, often being in contact 

 with her while the two consumed food, side-by-side on the surface. 

 When the female dived for food the male quickly followed, often 

 discarding a food item that he had not finished eating. When the 

 female surfaced, the male emerged a fraction of a second behind 

 her. 



During this period the male left the female's side only after the 

 two had emerged and groomed following a feeding period. While 

 the female remained on the chosen rock to groom and sleep, the 

 male dived for food nearby. While eating he swam back near the 

 chosen hauling-out rock to eat, and often glanced at the female 

 before diving. 



On the third day of the mating period the male exhibited less 

 interest than previously toward his mate, and several times stole 

 food from her. Also, he followed her in food dives less promptly. 

 The pair had left the cove by shortly after daylight on the morning 

 of 23 August. 



THE SEPARATION PERIOD 



The breaking of the pair bond was observed on several occasions. 

 The female, in each case, deserted the male. Probably because the 

 male is larger than the female he requires more food, and as a 

 general rule he returns to the water to continue feeding while the 

 female rests on land. In one instance, the food dives of the male 

 gradually carried him about 50 m. from the female's resting place. 

 She watched him intently and, suddenly, while the male was 

 beneath the surface gathering food, she slipped quietly into the 

 water and swam rapidly away beneath the surface. Apparently 

 the visual acuity of the male was inadequate to detect immediately 

 from his feeding station the absence of the female. When the male 

 returned for one of his periodic visits to his mate on the chosen 

 rock and found her gone, he left the water and walked rapidly 

 about, sniffed the spot where the female had rested, and looked 

 quickly at possible hiding places nearby. Apparently satisfied that 

 the female was gone, he entered the water and swam hurriedly 

 to several nearby hauling-out places, rising high in the water to 

 look onto them. He also rose high in the water to look across the 

 surface in different directions. Although I observed several such 

 episodes, I never saw a male relocate the female after her de- 

 parture. 



In general, it would appear that during the postcopulatory 

 period the female exhibits less interest in retaining the pair-bond 

 than does the male. The female may, however, exhibit sexual 



