mony lays hold of No.
1's spouse, to be afterwards exposed to a repetition of the trick by
No. 3. In such cases the females are quite passive, never fall out
with each other, and bear with patience the severe wounds they often
get when they are pulled about by the combatants, now in one
direction, now in another. All the females are finally distributed
in this way after furious combats among the males, those of the
latter who are nearest the beach getting from twelve to fifteen
consorts to their share. Those that have been compelled to settle
farther from the shore must be content with four or five. Soon after
the landing of the females they bring forth their young, which are
treated with great indifference and are protected by the adopted
father only within the boundaries of the harem. Next comes the
pairing season, and when it has passed there is an end to the
arrangement and distribution into families at first so strictly
maintained. The seal-oxen, rendered lean by three months absolute
fasting, by degrees leave the "rookery," which is taken possession
of by the sea-cows, the young, and a number of young males, that
have not ventured to the place before. In the middle of September,
when the young have learned to swim, the place is quite abandoned,
with the exception of single animals that have remained behind for
one reason or other. In long continued heavy rain many of the
animals besides seek protection in the sea, but return when the rain
ceases. Continuous heat and sunshine besides exert the same
influence, cold, moist air, with mist-concealed sun, on the other
hand draw them up on land by thousands.

Males under six years of age cannot, like the older males, possess
themselves, by fighting, of spouses and a home of their own. They
therefore collect, along with young females, in herds of several
thousand to several hundred thousand, on the shores between the
rookeries proper, some of them close packed next the water's edge,
others scattered in small flocks a little farther from the shore on
the grass, where they by turns play with each other with a
frolicsomeness like that of young dogs, by turns he down to sleep at
a common signal in all conceivable positions.

[Illustration: "SEAL ROOKERY" ON ST. PAUL'S ISLAND, ONE OF THE
PRIBYLOV ISLANDS. (After a drawing by H.W. Elliott.) ]

It is these unfortunate useless bachelors which at the properly
managed hunting stations yield the contingent for slaughter. For
th